Two States, Three Years
Moving to two different states within three years is rife with challenges. The biggest one for me? Bigger, even, than finding new doctors and supermarkets and navigating school politics and back roads? Loneliness. Gus and I sat by ourselves at Sam’s first lacrosse game last week. I wasn’t sure which crowd was ours because I […]
The Final Countdown: 14 Southern Fried Lessons
We leave the South in six short days. The boxes are packed, we’re eating with plastic utensils, and the truck arrives on Friday. When we moved in the summer of 2011, I told Chris I was willing to try anything for two years. “Our two-year vacation,” I called it. “And at the end of those […]
Seventy East
I’ve been missing my Mom something fierce lately. It always happens around holidays. We talked on the phone for over an hour tonight. We laughed and cried… and she even cussed a little. My feelings had been hurt recently and unexpectedly, and Mama Bear had my back with a fierceness and a bit of profanity. […]
What Brene Taught Me
I had the honor of meeting the smart, sassy, and gracious Brene Brown last week. If you don’t know who she is, go ahead and spend a few minutes watching her first stunning Ted talk. I’ve spent the weekend trying to sum up my experience, but it’s still bigger than I am at the moment. […]
Brown County Memories
On the heels of a most wonderful Thanksgiving family reunion in Brown County, Indiana, I’ve been thinking a great deal about my childhood, my family, my sister, my cousins (pictured here), my grandparents. We’re a unique clan, the Andersons. Our individual personalities are as vast and different as the leaves in our beloved Brown County […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Year of Being
365 days. That’s a lot of time. Time to think, time to reflect, time to laugh, to cry, to fall to your knees, to dust yourself off and start anew. It’s a great many sunrises and sunsets, dinners and lunches, books checked off the “must read” list, novels written and edited. It’s one more school […]
Super Bowl Envy
I’ve got it bad. It’s not attractive, not pretty. But I’ve got it. I don’t like being envious, covetous, jealous… and yet, there it is. So I’m just going to embrace it. I have a severe case of FOMO, Jeryl. (That’s Fear of Missing Out for those of you not privy to my acronyms.) And […]
2012
2012. I like the sound of it. 2011 was a year of Big Changes. This one is going to be a year of Grand Adventures. I love the possibilities. We wrapped up the Old Year in high gear. Lots of visits with wonderful new friends and treasured old friends. Hugs for grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles. […]