It’s been six months since we said goodbye in the middle of a bizarre autumn cold snap. It should have been in the high 60s that day. But it wasn’t. Snow fell like grace in the late October wheat fields as we buried my momma. A strange blanket of comfort, as if God was saying, Unexpected … [Read more...] about Not What We Expected
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Making Mistakes
I’ve been through the events in my mind for years, trying to nail down how it could have happened. This is my best guess. One Saturday pre-chronic-illness, I walked into the kitchen to take my once-a-week bone density pill. As I unwrapped my pill, the phone rang. I answered the landline, my … [Read more...] about Making Mistakes
Receiving the Baton
Certain slices of life mamas never forget. Like the early days and weeks after bringing new babies home from the hospital. I especially remember the part their grandma played. Each time my mama showed up at just the right time. Brought all the right treats. Did all the right things. … [Read more...] about Receiving the Baton
Learning to Lament
It was an ordinary Tuesday. As I made my way into the choir room, I remember seeing her older brother pacing outside the school office, waiting for her to be released from class. My childhood friend’s mother had died after a long illness when we were seniors in high school. I knew her mother … [Read more...] about Learning to Lament
Sensible Skin is Tougher Than You’d Think
Every mama knows, preschool conversations reveal some of life’s biggest truths. It was my day to have the two for lunch after their morning at preschool, my younger daughter and her four-year-old friend. It was a Thursday thing that year. These besties loved spending as much time together as they … [Read more...] about Sensible Skin is Tougher Than You’d Think
Expectations and Promises: When God Disappoints
Shielding the California sun from my eyes for a glimpse as my daughter received her college diploma, I remembered something my husband said four years ago as I sat on these same crowded bleachers. I was wearing my cardiac life vest back then. My older son was graduating from the same university … [Read more...] about Expectations and Promises: When God Disappoints