Slow but Steady
“26.2 miles didn’t seem all that long. If you’re in a car, it’s just a few exits down the interstate. But in road-weary Brooks, it’s, well, 26.2 miles. One step after another. Right, left, right, left.” You can read the rest here: Slow but Steady, featured on Mamalode
A Hand to Hold
Our neighbors across the street are getting a new roof. These past few early summer mornings have been sunny and cool and beautiful, and I’ve been drinking my coffee and catching up on some front porch reading to begin each day. This morning, though, I had to angle my chair away from the neighbors’ house. […]
Ode to Packing
I am beyond humbled by the response my letter to Sam received. Thank you so much for loving it, for sharing it, for embracing it. The comments were so positive and kind… and so very fun to read. The only semi-negative thing people had to say concerned my long-windedness. And that’s not really negative when […]
Listen To Your Mother
Sharing stories has never been a problem for me. I’m an over-sharer by nature, a blurter, a confessor. I’m pretty unfiltered and have been known to hug strangers with reckless abandon. I know that’s not the case for everyone. Some people find it more challenging to share, to open up, to extend. I understand that […]
Giving Thanks
I cannot deny that these past two years have been hard. Soul-crushing, fetal-position hard at times. Let me begin by saying this, by owning this: I know that if I threw my problems into a pile with all the other problems of the world, I’d grab mine back as quickly as I could. I know […]
NO!
One of my very favorite songs to listen to when the kids were younger was the catchy “They Might Be Giants” tune, “NO!” It opens with this: “No is no. No is always no. If they say no, it means a thousand times no.” Pretty good preparation for life, methinks. We face a lot of […]
America’s Next Author: Baby Steps
Dear Friends, I swore I’d never do it again, this social media writing contest thing. Never say never. My short story, “Baby Steps,” was chosen as a competitor in the 2012 America’s Next Author contest. I’m not normally a short story writer, but this particular story was born out of my next novel, “One Blue, […]
About Face, Forward March
And so, in this crazy place we call life, everything can — and does — turn on a dime. Including my pity party. It’s a bit of a shame, really, to end it so abruptly. I put a lot of time and effort and tears into it. But I’ve been blessed this weekend to spend […]
Hurricane Warning
It’s been a rough week. They happen sometimes… to all of us. Whether you’ve moved four states away from the only home you’ve ever known, whether you and your spouse both started brand new jobs and left all your friends and family behind, whether your four kids trudged through their first year in scary new […]
Reluctant Research
Many years ago, when I first began my professional career, I worked with a gal who became a quick friend. We were in different departments, but we clicked instantly. She’d just gotten married, I was engaged. We were young and happy and upwardly mobile. Shortly after our friendship was cemented over dinners out and shared […]