Understanding Others || a guest post by my daughter
Motherhood is a gradual series of Letting Go. Some days it's harder than others. Today is one of the hard days. My daughter is in her second month of a two-year fellowship with CrossPurpose, a training program "designed to bring together highly motivated...
One of the Most Important Things I’ve Learned About My Kids Leaving Home
Rarely has there been a year when our family has celebrated so many milestones and major events-- Our oldest (and only daughter) graduating from college and accepting an incredible two-year fellows position 1,500 miles from home. Our youngest graduating from high...
Greater Love
Sometimes when you get what you hope and pray for, it’s not just hard, it hurts. I’m a mama to three — two brothers born before their big sister turned five. Babies, then toddlers, are so active, aren’t they? Endless demands and never enough sleep, a...
South Carolina, Surcees and Toldja So
J'adore this map of state-by-state slang on slate.com. I would strongly beg to differ on the words chosen for Georgia (dingnation?) and Tennessee (whirlygust??) having lived in each state for more than a decade, but South Carolina, home to my college...
The Bookmark Thief
It was likely birthed as a gentle correction to my inconsiderate transgression: I had dared to turn down the corner of a page in one of her books. For one so young, she took good care of her special possessions, and there were no greater treasures than her books....
Don’t I look different…? {Part II, a series on motherhood & empty nest}
ii There's this scene in the 1980s version of About Last Night where Demi Moore's character, Debbie, is rebuffing her former lover's (and boss's) advances. Steve's a persistent one, not believing her first "no" and reminding her of what they once shared. Her...
Facing giants {a series on motherhood & empty nest}
i. I've been pulling this Band-aid off for so long, I've become accustomed to the sting. It still hurts but the pain is a dull one just below the surface. Until it isn't. But then once it's off, that means the healing has taken place and the wound is restored to...
The Wedding Gift and Mr. Housman
Mr. Housman was a crusty old man with gravel in his voice. A stubble of white dusted the sides of his head. His skin was a map of liver spots and blotches. When he stood his tallest I could look him square, and his belly looked like he had swallowed a...
Tears, Technology and Halcyon Days
? (Thank you!) I'm not a cry-er. I chalk it up to using a lot of my Lifetime Tear Quota when my mom died the spring of '72 and my beloved grandmother the summer after. Nothing hurts more than losing the ones you love most. Scraping my little girl's...