Amber Norgaard

I watch a little one’s fascination with soft skin. 
“Old and baggy," the jaded call it. 
But to the innocent’s eyes,       it's soft and magic. 
I remember staring at my grandmother’s hands, feeling her blue veins and soft skin. 
     I… Read more

NW Iowa Sunset, December 26, 2013 It's winter in the northern hemisphere. We've passed beyond the "darkest" day of the year.  The sun has begun it's slow ascent, reaching a little higher in the sky every day.  The ground lays…Read more

"They knew"  Image courtesy of De Leon Moving Pictures. Amber pictured with Deuce at Equine Voices Rescue & Sanctuary. 

"To the ego mind, surrender means giving up.   To the spiritual mind, surrender means giving in and receiving."  ~ Marianne… Read more

May 28, 2013
Dear Mom,
Thank you for the birthday pot that you bought me last month!  Please tell Dad that I nurtured my inner farm-girl and planted some basil. 
I think it likes being by the piano window. I’ve… Read more

I originally wrote this "reflection" for my newsletter on May 28, 2012. In honor of this day a year later, I would like to share it again...

Today is Memorial Day in the U.S. It is a day symbolized by… Read more

This past January, I made a personal commitment to take monthly voice lessons. I came home from a lesson in April, and journaled the following experience:

I can hear it. The anxiety mounts. My brain kicks into full-banter mode, "Ugh…Read more

B E - i n g  .  .  .

that's what she taught me 

in the 162 months that we spent together.

Always IN the moment.
Never holding grudges.
Unconditionally welcoming.

Even in the end...

The last night, I laid…Read more

Adapted from a journal entry on December 30, 2010
I'm delayed in the Denver airport due to weather...not a surprising occurrence in the mile high city during winter.
I stand in line to order a meal at Panda Express. Balancing… Read more

He said his name was Todd and that he felt at home in the Dallas Airport. We were wandering among a sea of men and women dressed in BDU’s. It was the middle of October, and I was loaded down…

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"Six feet of clay makes every man equal," the epitaph reads.
I stop in my tracks.
That's quite a final statement to leave to the living.
My mind spins. What would inspire this?
A lifetime of events epitomizing… Read more

So...I've gotten a bit attached to a cricket in my house.
It's the singing thing.
We both do it, and his chirping from sunset until early morning sounds like a lullaby to me.
Maybe it's because it reminds me of… Read more