In the opening session of my eight session volunteer motivational prison program “Life Change Discussion Group” I usually read the following essay to set the tone and attitude of our first meeting, to get the guys thinking quiet thoughts. Over the years, I have developed certain strategies, ways of looking at things, which help me feel better and get over the humps and speed bumps of life. One strategy I call “walking softly”, showing quiet reverence and appreciation for the environment, the world and people around me, and for myself. This is Dick Sederquist with my tenth audio podcast. I call this essay, “Walking Softly”.

Walking Softly

This is Dick Sederquist. Welcome to my Podcast, “Reflections and Stories Along the Way”, a continuing feature on my web site and iTunes. People tell me I have a low and resonant radio voice and love to hear my short stories and essays read aloud. My goal is to create a hundred Podcasts and eventually an audio book. You will also find a short video interview on my writing, memoirs and prison ministry on my web site at www.dicksederquist.com

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This is Dick Sederquist with my thirteenth audio PODCAST. It’s called “Slowing Down”. You can hear this in my resonant bass voice on my audio PODCAST on your computer and at iTunes at “Reflections and Stories Along the Way”. You can also read it on my BLOG. I’m told I have a radio voice, so pretend you are listening to the radio. Being close to your grandkids has many benefits. It’s like watching and re-experiencing your own kids, their parents, growing up again. These little guys are also watching you like a hawk. You can’t get away with anything. In the first grade, my granddaughter had a session in school on etiquette. I should have known that, from then on, I was in big trouble.

Slowing Down

This is Dick Sederquist with my 12th audio PODCAST called “Floating Down”. It’s an audio update to a previous written BLOG. No wonder when we look up to the skies, we call it heaven. We owe everything to the heavens from which everything came, the grains of space rock and dust, which accreted to form our planet four and a half billion years ago, the comets which brought us our water and oceans, the sunlight which nourished the first primitive plants and algae in our oceans producing life giving oxygen. We even owe the malevolent space rock that impacted the Earth wiping out the dinosaurs, allowing a new species to inherit the Earth. Without this, there would never have been the rise of mammals and human life on earth. We would never have been able to contemplate the sources of our existence, and all the things, including feathers, which float down from the sky. From the skies and the stars, we received the gifts of life and intelligence, gifts we cherish, honor and protect. We celebrate these gifts through our human and global connection called love. I can’t think of anything better than love that connects us together under a common sky and heaven.

Floating Down

This is Dick Sederquist with my 119th BLOG and eleventh PODCAST called “The Gift”. You can read the printed version here on my BLOG or listen to the audio version on my PODCAST or at “Reflections and Stories Along the Way” on iTunes. A friend of mine, Frank, recently passed away. I consider him one of my heroes because he persisted in spite of extreme adversity. Most of all, he helped others suffering from his same affliction. This is my tribute to him. He is the older gentleman in this story I wrote several years ago. In addition to service to his country, his local town and municipal water and sewage treatment district, Frank also ran a local political blog and served as a Town Constable and Justice of the Peace. He volunteered all over the state giving talks to school children about the dangers of smoking and taught and assisted new victims of his affliction on the use of artificial speech devices.” Here is my story, called “The Gift” about Frank and his new friend.

The Gift

This is Dick Sederquist with my ninth podcast. This was my very first piece of fiction. It’s for the child in you, and in us all. When my daughter was small, lying next to her before tucking her in, I would tell a silly little story about her favorite hand puppet and an adventure they had in a magic land located on the other side of the mirror inside her closet. I did this with appropriate gestures and sound effects. I did the same, but a different theme for her children when they had a sleepover at Nana and Grandpa’s. This time, lying between them on top of our king size bed, I told stories about a magic transporter box. 

This short story is called “The Magic Box”, written for my grandchildren when they were at the bedtime story telling age. It’s a sequel to my true story “The Magic Picture Window” found in my first memoir “Hiking Out”. Writing for children is a lot of fun, certainly different than for older teens and adults. It’s a whole new set of writing rules, which reminds me, I have two blogs on a guide to writing a nonfiction memoir called “Telling Your Story” and “The I’s in Writing”. This fictional story is about Johnny and Marylou, alter egos of my grandchildren. It’s how Johnny and Marylou found the magic box. Maybe you have a magic box in your house. If you have children, I bet they know where it is.

Walking Softly

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