Sheppard's Rest: Reflections about life, both the inscrutable and the beautiful: Recent Episodes
Stephen C. Sheppard
Sheppard’s “Rest” is the voice version of blog posts written by me, Steve Sheppard. But I’ve long desired to add my own voice and my own style to those observations, and this podcast allows me to do just that. I have no pretenses about viral followings or creating commercial enterprise. I only mean for the entries to represent one man’s thinking about his life and the world in which he finds himself, as both indiscernible and lovely as that often is. I hope that my reflections may be of some comfort or affirmation for you on your own journey.
Do you remember the lovable curmudgeon? I thought it was time for a tip of the hat to someone I really loved to hear.
How old are you? Ther answer to that question may go a long way to determining whether this story resonates with you.
]Forgiveness is not always warranted, and not due to the egregiousness of the perceived offense.
The run-up to the 2024 election may be far more important than the election itself. That has me feeling very nervous.
We lost a family member a few weeks ago, someone who we had only met once bot whose life impacted us in ways that will never end.
Personal Christmas gifts are always the best, but these took that notion to a whole new level for me.
What might be at work when a coincidence is so strong as to make you hold your head and lose your breath?
The number one fear in people is the fear of public speaking. Imagine what that might be like if you had no ability to speak.
For every listener who scoffs, I simply refeer them to a book which lays it all out, in chilling detail.
What's going to happen to all of us by then? 250 million years is a drop in the bucket.
You've likely never heard of it, you likely cannot pronounce it, and you want nothing to do with it. It's C diff.
I want you to hear about this technology that can transform your life while shingling your house.
If you want to get from point A to point B, you've got to head in the right direction. If you want the answer to particular problem, you've got to ask the right question.
Even if you go fishing every day, you're not likely to experience a catch like this one.
"You can't always get what you want," sing The Rolling Stones. But sometimes you can....
Babies speak a language that is terrible and wonderful and we will do almost anything to understand. After all, how could we not help someone so reliant on us?
If the bad guys just put as much energy into honest work as they do into their scams, this country would solve all of its economic woes.
This might have been among the very top Father's Day gifts ever. It was for me, anyway.
I don't even know the guy, but I sure take exception to something he penned some years ago.
Finding a spiritual peace might be as elementary as looking down at the ground and up in the sky.
Last week we had the opportunity to meet our pen pal of the past school year and had a mini-party of the year so far. What a cool, new friend!
It's all about planning and then adapting, and learning to marvel at the place that is Holland.
Sometimes you just have to get out there and go for it, and it doesn't matter whether you succeed or not!
Do you recall where you were 53 years ago? Had you ever been born yet? I remember one event from 1970 quite clearly.
What makes you laugh uncontrollably, every time, without fail, without explanation? For me, it's all about face.
It was a very brief and completely chance encounter which consisted of no more than passing each other in a doorway. But it was a really important moment for me.
A colonoscopy? That's the most jovial place I've been lately? I was offered no rear view mirror.
This podcast describes the greatest single threat to our liberty and freedoms. No, it's not a book title. Rather, i's the act of banning books.
My last episode had to do with non-profit malfeasance. This one has to do with the corporate kind. Which is worse?
At various points along our way, we are challenged to make decisions that are either right or wrong. What happens to us when a wrong decision sweeps us along with the crowd? How willing are we to descend?
We hear a great deal about the instances of "Iowa nice," but I wonder if those stories are found largely in tourism literature.
"So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains, and we never even know we have the key." (Eagles)
What companies sometimes do in the name of profit can be illegal and actually detrimental to the pursuit of financial health. What those companies SAY about what they do can be downright sickening, as in the case of PSSI.
There are many influences that help to shape our lives along that journey, but few, perhaps, as unlikely as that from a high school bus driver.
One choice of songs that reflect who you are is an unfair assignment, so here is an additional opportunity to think about those special songs in your life.
What is there to feel good about? A quick look around should answer the question even on the darkest of days.
Are there things from your past that keep you up at night in either embarrassment or regret. There is at least one for me.
The truthless nature of one politician's campaign to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives is beyond belief. Well, yes, it was substantially all lies.
What size is your footprint? A restaurant may seem a strange place to discover it, even when you aren't there.
What in the world happened to the Luther College campus at Christmastime? Somewhere there's a Grinch to be found.
This is what it felt like being a kid and waiting for that special gift from Santa Claus.
No description, no introduction, no analysis is needed when the words speak so clearly for themselves.
It used to be sports, sports, sports on TV and radio. Now it's food, food food and I'm not sure that I can stomach much more.
There is nothing like dozens of robocalls each day to enliven the household and ensure that you get plenty of exercise.
There was much to be found in an autumn day on the road. The greatest gifts are those we had in each other.
The current state of our national economy has the hidden benefit of making all of us just as knowledgeable as the experts.
The views from the earlier years are decidedly different from those later on in life. I wonder why that is?
There are new storms brewing, but not the kind that churn up from the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans. These are more immediate, but still preventable if thruth matters to us.
We are not rocks. We are not islands. And we rather desperately rely upon one another, is ways we barely can imagine.
A writer can write about anything with enough imagination. In this case, I can even write about writing.
Recalling the memories of the past can be a good and even healthy thing, but never at the expense of what lies ahead.
There's more going on when seven buddies get together marking fifty-some years of friendship, something magnificent.
When things start to fall apart around you, check to see whether there could be a Bad Moon Rising!
One of our daughters was married very recently, and the intensity of the event lingers.
When was the last time you saw someone so joyful that it transformed you, too? That's what my grandson Noah did for me during a recent visit.
One of the great difficulties in the abortion debate is the awful way in which supporters on both sides of the issue attempt to justify their positions. maybe we need to spend a little more time thinking it through.
How do those old pieces of life memorabilia reflect who and what we are, all these years later?
This is your list of "must read" book titles for the summer, or for the rest of your life, for that matter.
Our former president has uttered some ridiculous statements, perhaps few more puzzling than this.
The loss of one's hearing does not equate to an inability to listen. I've been busy learning the difference between the two.
There are some places that absolutely transport you to a different place, and Madeline Island in the late Spring is one of them.
This past Memorial Day created a new basis for remembering and grieving for at least one small community in west central Minnesota.
Over the Father's Day weekend I found myself thinking often about Dad and everything that he was.
I have a very specific memory from my days at summer camp that turned out to have major importance in my life, and it was found deep in the woods.
What happens when old friends finally get together again? It's something far beyond simply having dinner together.
If by chance you are a frog in pot of water and you don't jump out as things heat up, your are likely a goner.
We are living in an age when, if you pay attention to what is actually being said, you might have nothing else to respond with other than, "Huh?"
Whatever we see in the mirror is pretty much the reflection of who we are, like it or not.
I'm still playing catch when I can with a Spalding baseball glove that my dad bought for me some 66 years ago.
Guess what? Lifetime partners are nonetheless very different people from one another, and they need a formula for navigating all those differences.
The death of TV personality Bob Saget must have been a lucrative event, given all of the news coverage it is receiving, even nearly three months later.
Reflections about all the positive things that have occurred to me after the passing away of my dog turn out to be quite the opposite.
What happened on the beaches of Kiawah Island 30 years ago just happened again, with slight modifications.
There's plenty to think about when out on the open road, even if your journey is a long one.
Not even Sam Spade had ever been involved in a mystery like this, one that eventually took years to solve, and only with the help of a dynamite dish.
Of all the friends you can cultivate, having one in the car business just might be the very best of all.
Just about the time you think you understand your life and surroundings, it seems that new information comes your way and creates A new point of view.
My responses to the annual big day have evolved many times over my life, until I now finally know how to treat my birthday.
My wife Katie shared with me a poem she had first given to me in 1972. The words have even more meaning today than they did 50 years ago.
There was more to the exciting conclusion of the Bills-Chiefs football game last weekend than the score. One of life's hard lessons was as evident as it could be.
This week, I discovered a letter from my college graduation that had been sent to me by a lady I called Mom. It sparked some great memories and knocked me over with a new insight to our friendship.
Poet Mary Oliver asks a probing question is her very short poem, "The Summer Day." I offer an immediate and decisive answer.
I experienced an unbelievable day the other day, one that I could never have foreseen. The after-effect was pure joy.
January 6, 2021 is more than just an historical date. It's time that we accept responsibility for never allowing it again.
It's been a long while since I wrote to my mother and father; after all, they passed away years ago. But that does not mean I don't think of them often, and have the need to check in with them.
Was Bob Cratchit really better off than today's minimum wage worker? Does it really matter?
My son and his fiance were married a couple of weeks ago, but there was also something else that took place among two unsuspecting families.
Thinking about life as a butler raises some broader questions about serving others. A butler?
It's certainly not too late to remember a "day that will live in infamy." Recollection on the attack on Pearl Harbor is always timely.
For a moment, our frenetic lives are placed on hold in the presence of that which is the most beautiful of human endeavors.
I was not in attendance at James Taylor"s concert in St. Paul, Minnesota over the weekend. But I am amazed at him and his peers nonetheless.
Do you ever get the feeling that your life is held together by pills? The thought occurred to me the other day in front of tablets and capsules galore.
There is more to leaving a beloved space than simply packing bags. We carry home some other things, as well.
What do you call the act of hitting your head against a wall and then complaining of a headache? Futility.
It was not necessarily an epiphany, but I experienced real joy in watching my wife walk down the street.
Individual reflections about 9/11 may be the best legacy for us personally in the aftermath of that enormous catastrophe.
Are we all being slowly driven crazy together with things that don't work, or is it just me?
Television commercials can be really good, really bad, and sometimes really misleading.
Northfield, Minnesota has always been recognized for cows, colleges and contentment. It also now has he memory of one memorable evening.
This broadcast describes the latest experiences of one Alzheimer's caregiver, and the unexpected source of help suddenly encountered.
There was one element that the signatories to this week's "Statement of Concern" got wrong. What do you think?
Immigration difficulties are a lot more complex and uncomfortable than building higher walls.
What happened at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6 is being called "a normal tourist visit" by some. What would you call it?
Mother's Day 2021 likely had a bit more meaning for moms than in years past, as it certainly did in our family.
This first episode will tell you a little about why I wanted to add this Podcast to an already-expansive universe of voices, and why you might want to give it a try. I provide a little context about why I'd take the time and effort to bring a voice to my longstanding blog essays. But if you want more about me or the context, go to https://stevesheppard.wordpress.com/about/.