We spent our 19th wedding anniversary very much like we do every other day. Organizing belongings for four kids going in a few different directions. Getting breakfast. Making beds. Cleaning up. Working. Coming home to four hungry children who wanted more food (again). Cleaning up. You got the picture… Which is to say: we spent …
Dear Daughter, I watch you, bare feet running. Long hair swinging. Bright smile shining. Those slender legs that keep you chasing after baseballs, basketballs, volleyballs and bouncy balls. Those hands that touch the keys on our beautiful piano. Hands that swiftly know how to plait a braid of gold or twist a strand of chestnut …
I am getting ready to finish my preparatory period at school when I decide to quickly check my email account for any new correspondence. There are a couple of junk mail items, but the one with my son’s name as the heading catches my eye. It is an email from his teacher. I open the …
I sit back, watching them interact in the dramatic play center, mixing up imaginary food and having fun with the farm set and dinosaur bin. Role-playing. Make-believing. Pretending. Watch them piece together chain links with number pendants to make dog leashes for the play puppies and creating Lego masterpieces in the Math and Science center. …
We pound pavement in the fading light of day. I struggle to keep step with his manly gait, his earnest stride. This is the time of evening when my fatigue catches up with me. Softly, the wind blows unruly tendrils of hair across my cheeks, and I stop to wrap my jacket around my waist- …
Dear Young Teacher Down the Hall, I saw you as you rushed passed me in the lunch room. Urgent. In a hurry to catch a bite before the final bell would ring calling all the students back inside. I noticed that your eyes showed tension. There were faint creases in your forehead. And I asked …
There is a problem with the church today- a problem that runs deep and wide and long. It’s created a chasm actually and an exodus. It’s a problem sourced by a history of church practices and traditions that serve to verify its authenticity as real and overt. It’s a problem all right. And that problem …
Black, velvet sky melts into night-time darkness. It’s something below freezing. And I think to myself, ‘here we go again’. It’s another ‘up-too-late’ week-night, and I find myself driving snow-dusted roads riddled with pot-holes. This is becoming a habit I wish I could break; that is, the custom of making lesson plans in a creepy …
39 ways to have a Beautiful Life…in celebration of my 39th birthday. 1. Breathe. Inhale fresh air from the great outdoors. Stop to smell the tree blossoms, pick a daisy, watch a bird in flight. Stay in the moment, slowing down enough to enjoy the simple things in life. 2. Jump. Jump on a trampoline, …
