You know those kinds of days. Another long day in a stream of long days. More issues to deal with, more meetings to be had. More testing to be done, more papers to be sent home. Just more of everything. And coming on the end of the school day, sometimes all you want to do …
It is Valentine’s Day evening and I am just finishing up washing dishes- having made four cups of chocolate and two bags of popcorn as a bedtime snack for four kiddos. They sit now on the living room floor with that stash of goodies, plus various bowls of candy and chocolates besides. And that is …
Callie was her name. I remember her auburn hair. Her scrawny frame. Her risqué vocabulary- peppered with colorful words I wasn’t allowed to say at my house. Perhaps I was a little bit scared of her- perhaps I was even a little in awe. She was the community bully, came from the wrong side of …
I might just be the world’s worst hospital advocate for my sickish children. Not to say I always was: just saying that with age and experience also comes both insanity and exhaustion. And deterioration. Mental breakdown. Brain cell reduction. Which is to say that I think my brain has (obviously) lost a little of its …
What is it about falling snow that captivates the imagination like nothing else I know? What is it about the first snowfall of the season- and the next and then the next that just creates a feeling of contentment and joy? That fills a heart with gladness. What is it about falling snow that just …
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 …
Some of my most real writing- the most vulnerable, transparent material I write, comes from an experience in which I mess up royally and then learn a few lessons in the process. Yesterday was one of those days. But first: I don’t want my life or any of the lives in which I am in …
Board games were invented with the sole purpose of driving parents crazy. (This parent, that is. I won’t speak for the rest of the world.) As if I wasn’t there (…in crazy world) already. It’s Friday night. I just played a game of Book Lover’s Memory Match with my two youngest- a game meant to …
“Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?” ― Ian Wallace We are all guilty of living (sometimes) just a little bit inside the box. Of being conformists. Of following the latest trends, the latest social norms, the current list of do’s and don’ts. But we were …
I heard from a man-friend of mine tonight that I don’t really write with a male audience in mind. So this one’s (mostly) for the boys. For the men. I want to write about everyday heroes. Because tonight in West Prince, where I live with my family of six, there are some men (and yes, …
If you are wondering, you probably don’t have to worry. You are doing just fine. In fact, you are doing better than fine. You’re rocking this gig. Trust your instincts. Believe in yourself. You’re a great Mama. I get impatient with people who make comments about parents saying things like, “I think they are a …
Gratitude: it’s a matter of the heart. I could speak of the day. Gorgeous, crisp autumn chill. Leaves pattern the dying grass. Down a heritage road, I can see for a mile a canopy of tree branches laden down with hues of gold, crimson, burnt orange: deep and rich. Air pungent with earthy undertones. The …
