Author Archives: Bronwyn Wilson

Finding Peace With Exploding Hair

I’ve learned the secret to making dreams come true.

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals. ~Zig Ziglar

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.”   ~Zig Ziglar

Ten years ago I wrote a list of twenty-two goals I wanted to achieve. At the time, none of them seemed possible. I suffered from an anxiety disorder. I didn’t fly on planes, nor did I go near an airport. Actually, I didn’t even like uttering the word “airplane.” I also didn’t like bridges. For this reason, I cancelled any road trips that involved crossing a bridge (you can imagine how many trips were cancelled). I didn’t go anywhere that involved parking my car in a parking garage. I didn’t ride elevators, and preferred to search for stairs and huff up fifteen flights. This way of life was no life at all. In addition, panic attacks gripped me at  read more

Eat, Pray, Gourd

Running of the Gourds Casa Grande, Arizona

Running of the Gourds
13th Annual Gourd Festival, Casa Grande, Arizona

As someone from Washington state, I’m used to chocolate slugs on a stick and naked people in colorful body paint peddling bicycles in a parade.

However, I’m not at all used to Arizona’s scorpions (dead, I think) melted inside sweet lollypops or festivals celebrating gourds. While I’ve never licked a sugary scorpion or seen a naked person riding a bicycle in the desert, I have seen–as of today–my first gourd festival.

Road Trip: The Long Way to Disneyland, part 2

Ocean Beach, California~

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Ocean Beach, California. Jerry took this picture moments before a wave washed over him, drenching his shoes and pants.

“C’mon Jerry, get in the water.”

“Nah, I don’t feel well. I’m having a reaction to the medication I stopped taking. I’m going back to the car.”

Jerry wanders back to the car leaving me grinning while standing in the rolling surf with my jeans rolled up.

I stroll along the surf, do some beachcombing, and realize how soothing it feels to have bare feet in wet sand. The desert and the mountains hold a beauty and a soothing aspect of their own. But neither have wet sand with rushing surf frothing around your legs. read more

Road Trip: the long way to Disneyland, part 1

disneyland“I love road trips,” Jerry says. “Out on the open road, driving through the desert where everything is charmingly barren and the cactus stand erect and look happy.”

I agree with Jerry, the desert has a lonely charm of beauty with creosote bush, prickly pear, cholla and saguaros framed by slate-blue mountains~and not a human in sight.

The charming barren Sonoran desert

The charming barren Sonoran Desert with happy, erect cactus.

To pass the time we reminisce of past trips. “Remember the Bed and Breakfast that served us a muffin the size of a marshmallow?” Jerry asks.

Death, Eyeballs, and Other Things That Amuse Me

1. TV commercials that ask if you or a loved one suffered death after taking such-and-such medication.
“Hello? Law Offices? Yes, I took Invokana and died. I’d like to file a claim, but please don’t put me on hold. I need to get back to the Godiva chocolate and strawberry cheesecake buffet we have every Tuesday here in heaven.”

"Yes, that's right, I died. I saw your commercial and want to file a claim."

“Yes, that’s right, I died. I saw your commercial and want to file a claim.

2. The coffee cups Jerry and I got for Christmas, given to us by our wonderful sister-in-law who knows how to choose the perfect gift.

Jerry's cup.

Jerry’s cup.

My cup. You see why it makes me smile?

My cup.