by Susan Mattern | Apr 6, 2019 | Atheist, Death, Life
I read a letter from a mom in a column in the newspaper the other day. Her five-year-old daughter was very worried about death and was staying awake nights worrying about it. Her mom didn’t know what to tell the girl. As an atheist, I probably worry about death more...
by Susan Mattern | Apr 2, 2019 | Life, Music, Piano
I’m a classical pianist. But I’ve always been envious of other musicians. Almost every member of the orchestra gets to carry his own special instrument and perform on it. Flutes, clarinets, guitars, cellos, violas, piccolos, French horns. People in bands get to march...
by Susan Mattern | Feb 17, 2019 | Complaining, Life, Travel
“What! They seated us on the wrong side of the train! We wanted an ocean view. Find another seat for us!” The middle-aged lady and her teenage daughter were sitting on the other side of the aisle from my daughter-in-law and me. We were taking the Coast...
by Susan Mattern | Feb 9, 2019 | Life
When I was five years old, I started taking piano lessons from a kind old lady named Mrs. Sale. At least, I think she was old. I was only five, so she could have been in her late thirties, and I would have thought she was old. I learned where Middle C was right away,...
by Susan Mattern | Jan 26, 2019 | Filters, Human Connection, Life
I was thinking about Donald Trump the other day. Don’t worry, this blog isn’t going to be about politics. Really! I was thinking about how people see him so differently. A majority of Americans think he’s a terrible president, should be impeached,...
by Susan Mattern | Jan 15, 2019 | Happiness, Life
My family was talking about happiness the other evening. The six of us adults were having the usual banter back and forth about how to define happiness. Is it contentment? Is it measured in success? Is it just a fleeting emotion, whereas satisfaction a more lasting...
by Susan Mattern | Jan 12, 2019 | Forgiveness, Life, World Peace
Every Miss America contestant wishes for it. Hallmark must want it badly because it’s on almost every Christmas card. Everybody hopes for it. I’m pretty sure you want it. I know I do. World Peace. Peace on Earth. Peace on Earth is a tall order. But even...
by Susan Mattern | Dec 20, 2018 | Christmas Eve, Convent, Life, The Bell Tower
“Time for bed, postulants! It’s 7:30!” Sister Miriam’s scratchy voice penetrated the walls of the study hall. It was Christmas Eve, and all of us first-year nuns, called postulants, had been sitting obediently at our desks. Suddenly, we were...
by Susan Mattern | Dec 15, 2018 | Convent, Human Connection, Power of Music
Two hundred years ago, a parish priest in Germany struggled to write a musical accompaniment to a Christmas poem he had written. He had worked on it for a few years but wasn’t satisfied with it. On the morning of December 24th, he asked the music director at his...
by Susan Mattern | Nov 26, 2018 | Diet, Life
I started a diet a few weeks ago. The doctor wanted my husband to lose a little weight because of his back problems, and I saw it as an opportunity to be altruistic and selfish all at the same time. I would help him out by going on the same diet (the altruistic part),...
