CONNECTING HEARTS THROUGH WORDS
Sometimes you choose change, and sometimes change chooses you. When I wrote the very first post of my blog in May of 2015, I had no inkling of the major life changes that were to occur for our family in the next decade. In the spring of 2015, we had one graduating college, one graduating... Continue Reading →
We grasped hands and held tightly, probably longer than appropriate considering we were mere strangers at the start. But our short yet profound conversation bonded us in a serendipitous way. "Mind yourself," he said, with a sudden solemnity before releasing his grip. "God bless you." God bless you too, dear sir. We stepped down from... Continue Reading →
Can I be honest? I’ve been pretty discouraged lately. Or, more specifically, discouraged with how technology has changed us. Yesterday, I was in a waiting room and it hit me like it does every time—we don’t talk to each other anymore. Twenty heads bent down looking at their screens. If conversation is initiated on a... Continue Reading →
May 14, 1985 Dad died in the hospital today. Why, why, why, why, why? Why wasn't I taken instead? Mom, Karen, and the boys could live fine without me. How will any of us survive without Dad? June 9, 2023 Dear Younger Me, These are such good questions. Thirty-eight trips around the sun later, and... Continue Reading →
I’ve kept the gift for over twenty-nine years. When I take off the top and inhale, I’m right back in that significant time—the beginning years of marriage and living in our very own little home, expecting a baby. My sister-in-law, Jan, gave me the Elizabeth Arden body lotion for my birthday, two months before our... Continue Reading →
It happened in a blink, the way these things usually do. We were babysitting Brett and Abby's puppy, our grandpup; a rascally, endearing, sixty-pound Sheepadoodle named Berkley. They’re in love with that guy (we are too) and had trouble leaving him for the dog-free overnight they were embarking on. I finally said, “Okay now, just... Continue Reading →
My first overriding emotion was embarrassment. When I heard one say to the other, “It was a domestic dispute,” I felt the blood rush to my face. The emotion immediately following was anger. “No! You don’t understand. My dad has a brain tumor. He’d never hurt us or our mom!” The kind paramedics looked at... Continue Reading →
If I believed, before, that a defense of temporary insanity was a bunch of hogwash, I now knew differently. I truly did lose my mind. The roads were terribly icy, and snow was coming down. I was dismayed they weren't given a snow day but was taking the twenty-five minute drive to my daughter’s school... Continue Reading →
"Did you leave yet?" I asked, frantic. "Please don't go! We've been robbed!" The minute we saw that our window had been smashed and our car broken into, I called our son, who was in another vehicle with his sister (our daughter), his wife, and mother and father in-law, leaving from the same parking lot... Continue Reading →
Being petrified of flying has its advantages. Okay, advantages is an overstatement, but there is one reason I'm thankful for my intense fear. When I'm up in the clouds and my heart is hammering in my chest, I can pray to God for hours on end—which is exactly what I did this past July on... Continue Reading →
As we rounded the corner onto our street, the anticipation I'd felt for the last ten days couldn't be contained one second longer. In our driveway, I left everything in the car and ran through the snow to the front door, flinging it open. My little boy had been waiting up next to my sister-in-law... Continue Reading →
I drove my daughter to school today in our well-used, ocean mist Honda Odyssey van. It's rusted in a few spots; dented in the rear from our sons' driver education days; and smelly from transporting dogs and athletes, wet snow boots, skis, bathing suits, and God knows what else. That old van is worn out... Continue Reading →