Warm, barefoot summers in Kansas I avoided them at all cost. Those feisty red ants had hills stationed throughout the farmstead. If a kid wasn’t looking where she was going, she got a painful reminder that she was infringing on their territory. Still, I spent hours observing those little guys at … [Read more...] about To Manage a Mountain
Paul
Embracing the Seasons
“This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made…” My oldest child’s beautiful voice pierced the strained silence on her first day of Kindergarten. Adult tears flooded the front seat of that minivan as an innocent, trusting faith poured out in the back. With a … [Read more...] about Embracing the Seasons
A Saturday Kind of Relationship
I am head over heels for my husband. He has been my rock and my partner and I am grateful every day that we chose each other all those years ago. When we married, that decision was a tipping point in my life. It set events into motion that have made my days on this earth so much brighter, and my … [Read more...] about A Saturday Kind of Relationship
Rushing Joy
Confession: Black Friday, Small-Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are all in the books for this year. And my Christmas tree still isn’t up. This is primarily due to my new normal with heart failure. I used to spend weeks decorating, including three trees and a ridiculous number of seasonal … [Read more...] about Rushing Joy
The Rope
I idolized my sister’s hair. Honestly, I idolized everything about my older sister. But her long blond hair, like spun gold, was an object of pure envy. Even as a four-year-old, I knew it was special. Next to my own brunette pixie, it was to me the holy grail. One warm fall afternoon, my sister … [Read more...] about The Rope
Upcycled
In grad school, my husband and I rented a duplex near campus that had some interesting carpet. It had a motif of a flaming B in a repeated diamond pattern. The rent fit our budget, and not that into decorating at the time, we didn’t think too much about it. A few weeks into a year lease, we … [Read more...] about Upcycled