Author: Palmer Trice

desiring to see the larger story

    Which world do you live in?  Which world is most compelling?  Which world is most true? I don’t know about you (actually, I think I do…😊) but I live in the world I can see.  That world is filled with people and projects, sickness and health, all kinds of feelings and observations.  Many would call it the real world. This morning I walked with a friend who has cancer.  He has had it for a long time, but faces the very real possibility of another surgery in the… Continue reading desiring to see the larger story

Going Home

My mom passed away on August 6.  She was 96.  But it was still a surprise!  I talked to her at 3 that afternoon and by midnight she had gone Home.  She had actually sounded really upbeat that afternoon.  We bemoaned the ending of the Olympics.  She was going to get her hair done on Monday.  She was still “with it”, though often bored and lonely.  She still lived in her home.  My three siblings all lived nearby.  But now she’s gone. Last night Lynne and I were looking at… Continue reading Going Home

self care in order to give

the friendship train

I really didn’t think it would happen this way. I thought that I would start making friends in high school, then make some new friends in college, then more  new friends in my 20s, then add some of the parents of my kids’ friends, and finally some folks from work and church. I also thought that somehow they would all like each other, stay in town (wherever I happened to be), share the same interests, faith, and keep the same personality that they had when we first struck up our… Continue reading the friendship train

come to me

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…” (Matthew 11:28) I am feeling tired all the time.  Every day is Groundhog Day.  I am very limited in how I can see people.  The cold weather has taken away the flexibility to see them outside.  In December, I tore my achilles and now I can’t even walk with people.  The decision to go anywhere is deliberative, requiring caution and  awareness of possible dangers, which are often the people I love most and who… Continue reading come to me

judgmental

I don’t know about you (well, I really think I do 😊), but I have found myself more judgmental this season.  I don’t know if it is Covid, although that certainly has put some added stress on all of us.  It may be pre-holiday stress.  What gatherings are safe?  How do we respect all of the participants?  What precautions are wise and what are overkill? For me, politics has been the worst.  The tone of the conversation has felt harsher.  Both sides fear disaster should the other side win.  It… Continue reading judgmental

bloom where you are planted

I feel a little bit like a captive in a foreign land.  A world that once felt stable and consistent now feels uncertain and whirling out of control.  The pandemic sure creates the foundation for that feeling.  Who has it and who doesn’t?  What works and what doesn’t?  Are we close to being out of it or not?  Life isn’t normal, yet it doesn’t look very different as I drive around town and see people sitting outside of Starbucks.  But I know it isn’t the same as it was. And… Continue reading bloom where you are planted

caution fatigue

  Palmer Trice is an ordained Presbyterian minister.  He is married to Lynne, has three children and has been in Charlotte since 1979. In his spare time, Palmer enjoys golf, tennis, walking and reading.

befuddled but hopeful

coronavirus is hard

This Coronavirus thing is hard.  It hits us in so many ways.  Loneliness.  Fear.  Hopelessness.  Irritation.  I can’t see people.  My “net” worth feels like it has holes in it.  One friend said, “I had a 401K.  Now it is a 201K!”  I laughed when he told me.  But I wouldn’t have laughed during those two or three crazy weeks when my retirement savings was disappearing.  My kids still have jobs, but I have friends who no longer do.  Second homes don’t help when I can’t get there.  It’s just… Continue reading coronavirus is hard