Tag: authenticity
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When Loud People Pretend to Be Experts
I used to hear strangers who were confident and talkative ramble on about certain subjects in a social setting and be wowed by their expertise, but I have a totally different opinion on that now. Since I retired and don’t have to be at my desk at certain hours, I’m free to enjoy long leisurely…
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How My Fake Plants Accidentally Saved My Garden
Never in a million years did I think I’d be known as that lady with the fake plants—let alone be called out for it by a kindergartner. But here we are. I’ve accepted that each of the past few summers in Tampa has been the coolest summer of the rest of my life. The temperatures…
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The Ethics of Glamour
A trick of presence. Body language and a thought pressed into the air. I’ve used glamour to disappear, and I’ve watched others wear it like perfume — until the energy ran out. I am glamour-free.
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Secrets
My office cleared out early—Relay for Life, family problems, emergency dental work, scheduled time off—and I was left as one of only a few in the building and in charge of my office. The big talk at work is about the retirements being offered because there’s not enough money to pay Federal salaries. People have…
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Goth Music: The Dichotomy That Is Lorna
Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Third Degree Rising. It’s a good thing I’ve given up trying to fit anyone else’s mold for me or I’d be really miserable… a shadow of my own self. Been there, done that, as they used to say. The funny thing is how many Law of Attraction Pollyannas…
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The Best Way to Look Great?
Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Love in the Third Degree. Isn’t it terrific when someone says something at the exact moment you need to hear it to recognize the truth of it? Twice this week, I hosted training sessions at work, and twice received unexpected compliments. These are my colleagues, people I see…
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Growing Up?
Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Third Degree Curves. Ah, synchronicity. My email folders were so full that I wasn’t allowed to send another message until I cleaned out the old stuff. So what should I find in a massive deletion of ancient emails but an exchange with the post-divorce counselor whose session notes…
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All Grown Up
Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Crimes to the Third Degree. It was best of all possible outcomes, the best anyone could have hoped for. Shannon, at 16, had been looking for specific topics to discuss with her dad. She’d settled on history, public speaking, and science as common interests. From the Bookshelf A…
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Universal Law: Like Attracts Turtles
When Grendel found the two turtles mating in the flower bed Saturday morning, I suddenly realized what’s been going on with my romantic life. It all goes back to that Universal Law, that like attracts like. A man I’m working with on a special project has expressed interest in me again…and again, to another coworker…
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What’s So Wrong With Being Different?
Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in “Third Degree of Freedom.” The only bad part—to me, anyway—about being “different” is that I sometimes get lonely for other people who are “different” like me. But here I am in the Bible Belt, in suburbia, in the midst of Republicans, conservatives, and a scary variety of fundamentalists.…
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“Be Yourself” and Other Lies
Copyrighted by Lorna Tedder. Originally published in Third Degree of Freedom. We tell kids—and grown-ups, too—to “Just be yourself.” Do we really mean it? Or do we just want them to be the selves we want them to be? The corollary to that, usually aimed at adults and errant wives, is “I just want you…
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My Mom Has Sex Hair
My taste in clothes hasn’t changed, not really, since I was 19. I remember once in college, alone in my apartment with Roxy Music playing “Avalon” in the background, a glass of red wine in one hand, candles burning, and me barefoot and singing to the record and wearing a long burgundy velvet dress. And…
