Word on Wednesday: Fun

FUN IS MAN-MADE! 

Let's plant some seeds and grow some FUN. FUN online, FUN in person. FUN exchanging clever gifts, FUN writing parodies to familiar songs, FUN with twister or catchphrase or sheepshead or any other party game, Uno anyone? FUN watching "Elf," FUN singing "Grandma got Run Over by a Reindeer," FUN "rocking around the Christmas tree." FUN under the mistletoe, FUN making silly face photos (or snapchats for you whippersnappers), FUN with egg nog, FUN with candy sprinkles, FUN in the snow, FUN wondering how the heck you roast a chestnut anyway, FUN sharing Santa stories, FUN singing off key or in harmony, FUN recalling the bloopers of holiday past, FUN gabbing with gal pals, FUN meeting the latest significant other at the dinner table, FUN dancing, FUN laughing with that guest who ate the most fruitcake.

Every man, woman, and child can grow FUN. 

If you are unsure how, 

Ask a grown up or ask a kid! 

A Word on Wednesday: Vacancy

Generally, the modern use of the noun vacancy is only considered in context of its opposite: "No Vacancy." And, No Vacancy seems preferred.

Vacancy means there a room at the lodge, an empty office for rent, an unassigned seat on the bus (or the supreme court), an open position at the firm. This common use of vacancy developed around the mid 1950s.

However, a British dictionary first defines vacancy as "the state or condition of being vacant or unoccupied." This seems close to the archaic definition: "absence of activity, idleness," which originated from Medieval Latin.

Americans are used to operating at capacity.
Our days, closets, vacations, and hearts are full.

Vacancy is a rarity, at times, it's created only by a cancellation.

"No Vacancy" is celebrated with every yes to an invitation, to an extra project, to bids from a neighbor, friend, or family member.

With urgency, vacancy is extinguished every day with busyness. Get a second job, learn another language, get the advanced degree, participate in secular and religious practices, cook seven days of meals in a single day!


Carpe Diem. Live life to the fullest.

However, please reserve space for vacancy this winter.

A Word on Wednesday: Hope

 The abstract hope cannot be illustrated beyond the four letters it contains.

Hope, when used as a verb, is seemingly without action. We cannot see someone hoping. Hope doesn't sound like much more than "wishful thinking," which cannot be measured or observed.

The expression, "all we can do now is hope," marks this action as one of last resort. When all efforts to control a situation fail, only hope remains, until even that is sometimes lost.

What if we started with hope?

As a noun hope is confidence in the future. The word's actual synonyms include courage, optimism, expectation. Its opposite is despair.

In contrast, a wish is more of request or a bid, and dreams are imaginings or visions. Likewise, to want is to yearn. Hope, though, steadfastly remains a reasonable assurance, just as it was at its origin in Old English, c.1200.

Hope, then, becomes the action of the strong and resilient. In silent elegance, one can hope with just a breath.

I close with these words from John Lennon, "Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end."