Author Archives: SamMooneyham

You hear people talking about places being “stuck in time” or towns that “time forgot” almost as much as you hear them plotting their “escape” from the community where they were born, desperate to find something different, better, more exciting. I wasn’t immune to that desire to see what life resembled outside of my small-ish,Continue reading “Daffodils and Dirty Paws”

Every day Best and I spend about an hour hiking through the woods. For him, it’s time to be (mostly) autonomous, deciding which scents to linger over and what trails to follow. For me, it’s time to be on alert for snakes, deer, briars, or anything else that could put my furry explorer in danger.Continue reading “Doritos, Rabbit Holes, and False Security”

During my senior year of college, I was fortunate to participate in a study abroad program in Italy. Armed with a few years of high school Spanish and a relentless optimism that my sincere curiosity about all things Italian would ingratiate me, it took only the train ride from the airport to strip me ofContinue reading “Walls or Cathedrals”

This past week Best was as sick as I’ve ever seen him. I didn’t sleep much; instead I watched his every move. What was heartbreaking is that this dog with seemingly boundless energy didn’t move much at all. Worse still was that I was responsible for his condition. For over a week I had beenContinue reading “No Finer Friend”

I’ve only half-joked for years that if I ever start feeling too full of myself I go for a run. More specifically, I participate in 5k or 10k races with my dad. Without fail I find myself in the back of the herd and my dad completes the course, circles back, and crosses the finishContinue reading “Bearing Witness and Holding Space”

It might be considered professional blasphemy to say that I had no use for Shakespeare when I was young. As an aging adult, though, there are a few lines from his plays that seem to have found a permanent place in my thoughts. “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamtContinue reading “The Gift of Waking Up, Growing Older, and Seeing Clearer (With the Help of Reading Glasses)”

Hardly a day passes that I don’t encounter a reminder to be “brave enough” to exhibit my uniqueness and that “different is good.” And true to my nature that just can’t seem to let things lie without examining them from every possible angle first, I think about the degree to which we are allowed toContinue reading “Lefties, Vegetarians, and Other Anomalies”

I recently read an article called “Mothers, Let Your Daughters Grow Up to be Travelers,” and it so wonderfully expressed a belief I hold dearly and insistently that I’ve been thinking of its relevance for days now. The article itself was written by a mother who, as one might guess, shares her reasons why parentsContinue reading “The More You Know, the More You Know You Don’t Know”

There’s a saying about how some friends are in our lives only for a season while others remain for a lifetime, and though it might be natural to assume the enduring friendships are the most meaningful ones, I don’t believe that’s always so. I changed schools at the start of second grade, something I wasContinue reading “You’ve Got a Friend in Me”

I’d like to say that my brain breaks include watching Ken Burns documentaries or ruminating on some of life’s great mysteries, but when I need several minutes of distraction from work I default to reading memes. It could be worse. But it could also be a lot better. One that hit home with me aContinue reading “Running Up That Hill”