Joy Zimmerman

How messy are you? 

Me? A whole bunch. 

I distinctly remember the image that prompted Messy Girl. As I opened the rear door of my minivan, I surveyed the slew of dried-up snack fragments, mismatched sports equipment, miscellaneous papers…

Have you ever taken a bath in the forest? 

As in “forest bathing”? As in retreating to nature to immerse yourself in its healing powers? 

Shrinrin-yoku forest therapy was developed in Japan during the 1980s as preventive health care. Researchers…

This Mother’s Day will be particularly poignant as my youngest son graduates from high school two days later. The impending empty nest will mark an ending and a beginning. 

Parenting is so complex, so challenging, so life-altering that it almost…

What were your favorite sounds from childhood? 

(I’ll give you a minute to ponder this…) 

My top picks include my mom playing piano downstairs as we went to sleep, the school librarian reading us another chapter, Stevie Wonder singing as…

Note by Note: The One I Love | No. 12 | 4.1.19 

Do you cringe when you hear a favorite song turned into elevator music or a dance mix or sung by the Chipmunks or Weird Al? Or do you…

“Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.”  ~Jean-Michel Basquiat 

While still a novice at guitar and solo singing, I wrote “To the Girl” to my younger self. I felt an overwhelming desire to tell my…

Spring is coming….really, it is. 

As you and I have struggled with the ice and snow of this frigid winter, how have those tiny birds survived? 

And how do each of us survive turbulent times? I was convinced during one…

It seemed a big advantage to have a last name that began with “Z’. Seated alphabetically, I often had time to rehearse my answers before the teacher called on me. So I wouldn’t make a mistake. 

I remember reading ahead…

“Love is the most universal, the most tremendous, and the most mysterious of the cosmic forces.”   ~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin 

Who and what do you love to your core? 

How do you put that love into words...or music…or art…or food…or…

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”  ~Eleanor Roosevelt 

I almost quit guitar lessons about twelve years ago. Between Mom duties, two or three part-time jobs, graduate school, band practice, major league volunteering, etc., there wasn’t enough…

“Growing pains are not just for the young…” 

While experiencing those uncomfortable pangs once again, this line became the genesis of “The Firefly”. I was reminded of fireflies kept too long in mason jars. Did you also gather up fireflies…

Isn’t this a fabulous premise? A noted author travels far and wide to thank his mentors by preparing beautiful, home-cooked meals of thanksgiving. He shares each “pilgrimage of gratitude and generosity” with a mentee or two, thereby widening the circle…