For Mother’s Day :: The Gift of Honest Words
I watched my Mom do this thing with grace -- and sometimes with frustration. This "sandwich generation" season I find myself in has me thinking about my Mom a lot. It's been nearly three years since she passed, rather suddenly and too soon, and it's meant a huge adjustment for all of us, especially Dad. She was the glue that held us together....
Of Binding, Bread-Breaking and Going Home
Details from a watercolor I created some 30 years ago in an art class I took with my Dad, the real artist who inspires me every day. He showed us how to do it. It was the first communion, the last supper, and Jesus demonstrated the act that binds, that heals, that unites. Breaking bread, pouring wine and offering it to his friends, his...
Celebrating Our Wonder Years and Gifting Two Books!
I love stories. In fact, they're kind of my passion. I'm delighted to point you toward a collection of stories written by women who are "of an age" -- women with a few miles on them, with some hard-won wisdom and with a perspective that's so needed in our world. I so appreciate the stories and the beautiful women in this book. Several are...
Of Books, Poetry and Getting Unstuck
Woodstock and I spent some time this week sorting through books. It's an addiction, my need to possess books. I know that and I fight it (sometimes) but when there are so many tasty words and they're rich and satisfying, why should I? I'm writing one -- a book, that is. Whether it will be tasty, I can't tell you. If it's anything like my...
It’s My Turn
I'm linking up with other bloggers across the globe today to write for five minutes on one word: Turn. ~~~~~~~~~~ There are many echos from our season of raising four boys. "When is it my turn?" "You'll have to wait your turn." "Why don't I ever get a turn??" These complaints from our boys are sweet music as I watch each of them taking their...
Life Lesson Learned: You Do You, Faithfully
I was a cheerleader in middle school. Sassy and athletic, my personality seemed to fill the bill when it came to rousing a crowd to chant encouraging words at basketball games (no football at our school in the '70s). Then I hit high school and something changed. I discovered I had a brain. I knew I had a brain in middle school and I'm sure all...
Christ Is Risen And All Is Right In The World
We stood at the window and watched on Easter Sunday as great-nieces and nephews, bundled in winter coats on the first day of April, scrambled for hidden eggs. Arms linked through basket handles, they ran or toddled through the mud, leaning into the wind and dodging Grandma's dog. Was it so many years ago that the generation before them made...
3 Reasons I’ll Take A Front Row Seat
Holy Week always takes me back to the limestone Catholic church where I grew up. Even now, stepping toward Good Friday and Easter, I can smell the incense, hear the clanging of altar bells and visualize the brass sculptures depicting the Stations of the Cross. The sensations that speak to me of Holy Week and Easter were instilled as a little...
I Know I Don’t Know It All, And I Don’t Want To
Spring is in the air and it's making me a little restless. You, too? In my corner of the world, we spent January and February waiting on the next snow storm (and the next one). In my case, the weather was a good excuse to knit a pair of socks, watch ALL of the Winter Olympics and make my way through four delightful seasons of Downton Abbey...
Thoughts From A Road-Tripping Parent
I'll admit it. I sometimes envy friends and family whose grown children live just down the road, or in the next town, or even in the same state. To be able to have Sunday dinner together or to meet up for coffee at the last minute sounds delicious. But, for whatever reason, our four sons are scattered. Meet-ups require some planning and more...
