I had a deep, interesting, and moving conversation about learning to slow down and being still with a friend, Melissa. 

This is something I’ve been tutored in for over a decade, but it still isn’t a habit for me. I’m a mover, shaker, and finisher. Stopping and stillness are not part of my natural energy.

Join me as I share what my tutoring has looked like, how it has gone, and the challenges and blessings of working on stillness. It has been enlightening.

Check out this episode!

When my daughter Marie’s children were young, I wanted to stay connected between visits. We only saw each other a couple of times a year, and I wanted more than that. While working on a presentation about the Spark Station, the idea came to me: why not write Spark Station Letters?

The idea was simple. I would write letters to my grandchildren sharing something that interested me — a word, a historical figure, a current event, a family story. Something that might spark a conversation in their home and keep us woven into each other’s lives.

It worked beautifully. Marie told me the kids were all ears when she read the letters aloud. They’d re-read them on car trips. She saved each one in a separate book for each child. She also mentioned that I was frequently sharing values and teaching life lessons — which I hadn’t even realized I was doing.

A Spark Station Letter doesn’t require much. Pick a topic that genuinely interests you, tie it to the child’s life when you can, share what it means to you personally, and write to the child’s age and interests. A letter to a five-year-old might be half a page. A letter to a teenager can go longer. Research if you need to — I usually limited myself to fifteen or thirty minutes of preparation. The letters don’t have to be long. They have to be real.

Here’s a sampling of letters I sent over the years. They show the range of topics, the values woven in, and how personal a letter can feel — even across the miles.

What Is an Onomatopoeia?

To Lizzy, age 5 – My twenty-year-old, Kate, had introduced me to the word during a conversation in the kitchen. We had fun coming up with examples, and I thought Lizzy would love it too.

Dear Lizzy,
Do you like words? Well, I do. I like knowing what words mean and how to spell them. You are just learning to write and spell, and I am excited for you because reading and writing are so fun.

I learned a new word recently. Your Aunt Kate told me about it. It was onomatopoeia. Whew, that is a big word! It is pronounced on-uh-mat-uh-pee-uh. An onomatopoeia is a word that sounds like what it describes. The buzz of a bee — isn’t that the sound they actually make! The hiss of a snake. The tinkle of a bell. Or the sound of a chickadee — that is actually what they say, chickadee. Funny, huh! You and your sisters can come up with some more.

Words are fun, and I hope that you will let me know all the onomatopoeias you can find. Keep reading. Keep writing. And for goodness ‘ sake, write to me!
Love, Grandma

Two months after I sent that letter, twenty-year-old Kate went to visit Marie. When she arrived, five-year-old Lizzy announced, “I know what onomatopoeia means!” and gave examples. The seven-year-old proudly added, “But I know how to spell it!” That’s what a Spark Station Letter can do.

Proverbs and Genealogy

To Ashley, age 10 – I was taking a family history class and had just found eighteen relatives at the Salt Lake City genealogy library. I wanted to share that excitement — and teach something along the way.

Dear Ashley,
I’ve been taking a fun class called Family History. It’s all about finding your old grandmas and grandpas, uncles and aunts, and people like that. After two classes, I went to the big genealogy library in Salt Lake City and found eighteen relatives. When I got home, grandpa and I found another one.

I was thinking about my grandma today. She would be your great, great-grandma. Her name was Rozelia Wolfley Cazier. She used to say, “A stitch in time saves nine.” Do you know what that means? When I was your age, I couldn’t figure it out. Now I know that if something is torn and you fix it right away, it takes fewer stitches than if you wait until the hole gets bigger.

This is called a proverb. There is a whole book in the Bible called Proverbs, and there are many sayings like this one in it. A proverb is an old, familiar saying handed down over many years. When you hear a proverb, it is a bit like hearing advice from an ancestor.

Here is a proverbs game for you. See if you can figure out what these mean, then send me what you think:
1. The grass is always greener on the other side.
2. Haste makes waste.
3. If the shoe fits, wear it.
4. A fool and his money are soon parted.

I hope you share these with your family and work together to figure them out. Ask your mom if there are any proverbs your family always says. I always say, “Better late than never.” My grandpa always said, “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face” — he’d say it when I was mad at someone and wanted to get back at them. It means don’t take an action in anger that will hurt you more than the person you’re mad at.

I love you to the moon and back.
Love, Grandma

The US Census

To Aubrey, age 10 – One year, I helped gather the census in Utah. It was a topic worth sharing.

Dear Aubrey,
I am working a few hours a day for the US Census to help pay for Aunt Kate’s wedding.
The census has been taken every ten years since 1790. The word for “every ten years” is decennial. The Constitution requires a population count so Congress can decide how many representatives each state gets. Some states have more than others because more people live there. That helps people have an equal say in government. Utah could have had another representative in Congress if it had just 800 more people counted ten years ago. The census matters!

Now, the census office is open all the time and costs a lot of money, which bugs some people. And some people don’t want to answer all the questions because they don’t trust the government. All the houses I went to were willing to give me the information, except one. Even though he didn’t trust the government and wouldn’t answer my questions, he was very nice about it.

The census information is also used in genealogy. You can look at old census records and find your relatives that way. The information I am collecting this year won’t be made public for 72 years, so I will never be able to use it for genealogy, and you will have to live to be 82 to use it!

I love you and hope school is going well.
Love, Grandma

Slavery and Freedom

To Lizzy, age 8 – Kate had to read a book for school about a slave girl in America. I read it too and wrote to Lizzy about it — connecting it to a local caucus night I had just attended for the first time.

Hi Lizzy,
Kate had to read a book for school about a slave girl in America, and I read it too. It was a very sad book. It is a terrible thing when families are broken up and people have their agency taken away. Sometimes I forget what a gift it is to be able to choose where to live, what work to do, where to travel, and whether to get married and have a family. Slaves couldn’t do any of those things. If people didn’t like you and wanted to treat you badly, they could, and you couldn’t do anything about it. One of the worst things was that you couldn’t protect your children. If the master wanted to sell your babies away, he could, and many times they did.

The girl I read about hid in a crawl space for over seven years just to be free. There was no heat in the winter, no air conditioning in the summer, and she could never stand up. Wow. She really wanted to be free.

That is why it is so important to vote. Last Tuesday was Caucus night. I had never attended a caucus before, but I went this year. People said they saw more people there than they had in many years — they were worried about their freedoms. When you are old enough, be sure to register and never miss an election. So many people have been willing to fight and die for that freedom.
Love, Grandma

Cherokee Indians

To Ashley, age 11 – There is an old story in our family about a great, great, great-grandfather who married a Cherokee princess. No record of it exists — just a family legend. But it gave me a wonderful reason to write.

Dear Ashley,
I’ve been doing genealogy, and there is an old story in our family about someone who married an Indian princess from the Cherokee Nation. There is no record of it, just a family legend — but I think it would be wonderful if it were true.

The Cherokee were farmers and hunters who lived in the mountains of the southeast United States. They were called one of the “Five Civilized Tribes” because they had adopted so many of the settlers’ ways. They had developed a written language, a government, and a newspaper. They helped fight in the War of 1812 and had the Bible translated into their language.

None of that mattered to the government, which said they had to give up their lands and move to Arkansas. Many fought against it. Then there was a gold rush in Georgia — the first gold rush in the United States — and the settlers were determined to have those lands. President Martin Van Buren ordered the militia to drive the people out. The exodus of over 800 miles is called “The Trail of Tears” because it was so terrible. Over 4,000 people died.

Doesn’t that remind you of the Mormon Pioneers, expelled from Nauvoo in the middle of winter and made to march so far in the snow? They too had to give up all their lands. But they held on.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the legend were true, and we carried some Cherokee blood?
Love, Grandma

(P.S. to my readers — Several years ago, I did DNA testing. No Native American bloodlines. The story was truly a legend. Sad.)

Nelson Mandela

To Kane, age 13- Kane had recently discovered how wonderful reading was, and I wanted to share something big with him.

Dear Kane,
Last night, grandpa and I went to see a movie called “Invictus.” I hope you will see it. I think when we come face to face with greatness, we become greater ourselves.

When I was fourteen, there was much trouble in South Africa, and Mandela was sent to prison. I heard about it but didn’t think much of it. Since then, I have heard about him over and over. He spent 27 years in prison and was released in 1990 — before you were even born.

Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist. Apartheid was a system of legal racial segregation in South Africa that gave minority white rule and curtailed the rights of the majority Black population. Education, medical care, and public services were all segregated. There was a great deal of unrest and violence. It was frightening even to read about as a girl.

After 27 years in prison, you might think Mandela would want revenge. He didn’t. Like George Washington, he wanted his country to have peace — to become strong and united. He put away his own grief and loss and worked toward that. He used rugby to bring about an extraordinary change. I don’t want to spoil the movie; it was so good.

Victor Frankl was a Jewish doctor who survived a concentration camp and wrote a book called “Man’s Search for Meaning.” One of the most powerful ideas I have ever embraced came from that book: no one can take away how you choose to respond. They can take everything else — your food, your home, your dignity, your freedom — but they cannot take that. That is what Mandela did. They had taken everything from him. But when all was said and done, he chose how to act.

Email and tell me what you are reading.
Love, Grandma

A Commonplace Book

To Kane, age 14 – Kane had been reading voraciously, and I wanted to share my own love of learning — and teach him a tool for remembering what he read.

Dear Kane,
Do you know who George Wythe was? He signed the Declaration of Independence and was America’s first law professor. But his greatest legacy was mentoring: two presidents, two Supreme Court justices, over twenty senators, governors, and judges. One of his students was Thomas Jefferson.

How did he do it? He asked Jefferson what he wanted to learn, helped him build a course of study, and then had him read, write, and discuss. Jefferson taught himself — with a mentor and the great books — and became one of the most educated men in American history. When President Kennedy hosted a group of Nobel Prize winners, he said, “This is the most extraordinary collection of talent and human knowledge ever gathered at the White House — with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” I love that quote.

Jefferson kept what he called a Commonplace Book — a journal of what he studied and learned each day. I was thinking about the wonderful books you’ve been reading and thought you might like to keep one, too. Write a bit about what you read, and your thoughts about it. This practice helps you really learn and remember.

I have two mentors myself — one helps me think more deeply, the other helps me stay on track with major projects. They both assign me books to read. I’m reading about six books at once right now. When I complained to one of them that I wasn’t getting enough out of my reading, she said flatly, “It’s because you aren’t doing any work to remember. You just read.” She was right. Now I keep a Commonplace Book of my own — and I am learning and remembering so much more.

Let me know how you like the books I sent you. I’d especially like your thoughts on The Giver.
Love, Grandma

These letters span several years and different ages, simple topics and complex ones, silly words and serious history. What they share is this: they kept me in front of my grandchildren and them in front of me. They passed on values I didn’t even realize I was teaching. They sparked conversations in homes I couldn’t be present in.

You don’t have to be a grandparent to write a Spark Station Letter. Any adult who loves a child — an aunt, an uncle, a family friend, a mentor — can use them. All it takes is something that interests you and a child you want to stay connected to.

Get connected. Share your Sparks.

P.S. for my readers – So you know, most of these letters have been shortened. Several were quite a bit longer, but I need to make the article readable. : )

When my daughter Marie’s children were young, I wanted to stay connected between visits. We only saw each other a couple of times a year, and I wanted more than that. While working on a presentation about the Spark Station, the idea came to me: why not write Spark Station Letters?

The idea was simple. I would write letters to my grandchildren sharing something that interested me — a word, a historical figure, a current event, a family story. Something that might spark a conversation in their home and keep us woven into each other’s lives.

It worked beautifully. Marie told me the kids were all ears when she read the letters aloud. They’d re-read them on car trips. She saved each one in a separate book for each child. She also mentioned that I was frequently sharing values and teaching life lessons — which I hadn’t even realized I was doing.

Today, I will share some sample letters I wrote to children I loved and show you how you can do the same. 

Check out this episode!

In January, my daughter Jodie gathered a group of friends to work on having a better outcome in 2026. We listened to an interesting YouTube video by Daniel Pink. The premise was that structure beats willpower. We each determined what we regretted from 2025 and how we could do better in 2026 to avoid repeating our mistakes.

My regret was not getting my writing in until the last minute. I regretted that because it fed this old story — there is no time in my life for me — and it led to feelings of resentment toward those I care for. I placed my lack of consistency on them and their needs.

Here’s something I shared early on in one of our conversation threads: “I have a hard time doing my own things even when I try. I do my personal morning routine, but it’s interrupted, and I usually don’t get any writing done. For the last four days, I rarely sat down, and tonight I didn’t even get to eat my dinner until 8 pm. No TV, no internet, no reading, no loafing, just serving and doing what’s necessary. I oversee what I choose to do, but I’m obviously doing something less effectively than needed.”

Today I will share what was causing my dilemma, what I needed to change, and how life-changing it has been. 

Check out this episode!

I received this email in the early days of teaching parents how to use The Spark Station.

“You may have seen this. It’s a picture book called The Pink Refrigerator by Tim Egan. This illustrates the secret of the Spark Station in an inspiring way. A junk dealer who likes to do–not much–finds a pink refrigerator that holds something new for him every day, and he gets excited about life and learning, closes shop, and sets off to explore the world. I thought you might enjoy this if you hadn’t seen it. Happy reading, Cathy D.”

I was intrigued, so I went to the library and found the book. Cathy’s description was spot on. The Pink Refrigerator is the Spark Station. It’s a beautiful story about how we can inspire children to explore things that might not have occurred to them before.

Today, I am sharing a personal experience of how experiencing new things can help children find the greatness inside themselves.  

Check out this episode!

Holidays have a magic that no other topic quite matches. Children feel them coming weeks in advance. They carry memories, traditions, food, and family stories all bundled together. They are, in many ways, the punctuation marks of a child’s year, the moments against which everything else is measured. I can remember family holidays when I was a child, and my children still talk about theirs. That’s what makes them perfect Traveling Spark Station territory.

In this final installment, Part 4, of the series on The Traveling Spark Station, we’re going to look at six holidays that have found their way into my Traveling Spark Station over the years. Some are eagerly anticipated. Some are barely on a child’s radar. Those turn out to be some of the most fun, because there’s nothing quite like introducing a child to a celebration they didn’t know existed. Every holiday has a story. Every holiday has something worth knowing. And every single one of them is better when you explore it together.

HOLIDAYS

1. Halloween
Halloween was one of my favorites as a child and as a mom. I had a truly impressive witch laugh and used it well. Teaching my grandchildren about Halloween’s origins, rooted in a Celtic festival and a Roman holiday both celebrated on October 31st, was fascinating for me. The ghoulish books were a hit for them. Making treats was wonderful for us all. We did crafts connected to both the ancient Celtic traditions and our modern celebration. We talked about Mexico’s Day of the Dead, as well; a shiveringly good time was had by all. Whatever you do in that last week of October, make it fun, fill it with learning, and do it together.

2. Fall Harvest Treats
One Traveling Spark Station activity was devoted entirely to fall treats, the kind that belong to this season and no other. The children helped make every treat. We made a magnificent mess, and we cleaned it up together.

We pulled saltwater taffy, which was the highlight; there is nothing quite like the look on a child’s face when taffy starts to harden. We made cinnamon apples, a fall fair staple from my childhood. And we made caramel corn, which, in the old days, we would bag up and give out as Trick or Treat gifts. Books about autumn and Halloween rounded out the day. Eating and reading together — you really can’t beat it.

3. Veterans Day
When I was a girl, Veterans Day meant parades down Main Street, speeches in the park, and visits to the cemetery where flags were placed on every grave. It was a solemn occasion and meaningful because my family had many veterans.

I wanted my grandchildren to understand this holiday and know some of our family veterans. This holiday offers a natural platform for so many important conversations — past and present wars, bravery and courage, patriotism, peace, and the specific people in your own family who served. It’s a topic that can take you down rich and interesting roads for a long time. Start with a good book or two, a coloring page, a simple craft, and a family story. That is enough to begin.

4. Thanksgiving
Every year, our family talked about the Pilgrims and gathered for Thanksgiving dinner. But there’s so much more to this holiday, and the Traveling Spark Station helped us explore it.

We learned about the Wampanoag people, the tribe that met and befriended the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Their chief, Massasoit, was a peaceful man, though his sons would later have many conflicts with the colonists. We learned about the Mayflower. My grands liked boats, but they decided firmly they would not have wanted to make that crossing on a cargo ship with no sleeping berths. We talked about what childhood was like in Plymouth in the 1600s, which was eye-opening. Children could not sit or speak during meals, were expected to both love and fear their parents, and were often sent to live with other families after age eight. My grandchildren were fascinated and deeply relieved not to be Pilgrim children.

I talked with Jack and Maggie about all of this, but what they were really interested in was turkeys. So, while we made paper turkeys, I wove in a bit about what Thanksgiving is, who was at the first feast, and what they ate. Mostly, though, we talked about turkeys. We read a book about a Thanksgiving feast for a very small mouse and a counting book about Plymouth, and spent a quiet morning chatting, gluing, and tracing. We all enjoyed it very much.

5. Labor Day
Here’s a holiday most children — and many adults — know nothing about. Growing up, I knew Labor Day meant school was starting and that there would be a parade, a BBQ, and speeches by important people in the park. What it actually meant, I had no idea.

So, it found its way into the Traveling Spark Station. I gave the children a little background on the holiday’s origins and the labor movement. They asked questions. We talked about the importance of work and what each of them was already contributing at home. We played a word game, did a craft, and read some books. It never became anyone’s favorite holiday, but at least they knew what it was about — and the crafts were a hit.

6. Leap Year
My sister was born on February 28th, just two years after me, and she has always been quietly relieved about that one day’s difference. If she had been born on the 29th, she would be a Leap Year baby — and at sixty years old, she would have had only fifteen birthdays. My grandchildren found this information both fascinating and deeply alarming.

I shared a few pieces of Leap Year trivia with them. Their favorite: In 1988, TIME magazine declared Superman to have been born on February 29th, making him an official Leap Year baby. I had a Leap Year rhyme, some coloring pages, books to read, and plastic frogs hidden around the room for the children to find. Not anyone’s favorite holiday — but a fun and surprising one, which is exactly what Leap Year deserves.

Four parts. Dozens of topics. Hundreds of moments.

That is what the Traveling Spark Station is really about — moments; the afternoon Jack discovered that two triangles make a diamond and couldn’t stop putting them together. The night my daughter Kate snuck outside in the dark to sprinkle glitter on a fairy ring. The conversation with Jason about silver dollars that stretched across weeks. The quiet morning of chatting, gluing, and tracing that no one planned but everyone enjoyed.

None of these required a lot of money. None required a teaching degree. They required a basket, a few books, a simple idea, and a person willing to show up.

That person is you.

Whether you’re a grandparent traveling across the country to visit for a week, an aunt stopping by for an afternoon, a family friend helping with an event, or anyone else who loves a child and wants to do more than just be in the same room, the Traveling Spark Station is yours. Fill it with what sparks you or what you know will spark them. Take it to the children in your life. See what happens.

I promise you won’t regret a single trip.

The Traveling Spark Station Part 1, Part 2, Part 3