At some point in my early childhood, in my pretty, happy bedroom with the shaggy yellow carpeting, there was a Charlie Brown trash can with the exclamation, “Good Grief” bubbled over that big, round head. Of course I knew Charlie Brown, and I’d heard him lament in many Charlie Brown specials, but never did I … More Grief is Not a Four Letter Word
I try to guard my heart. I take seriously the business of protecting the wounded center of my very being. Each morning I wrap it in pillowy softness to shield it from over-exposure or vulnerability to further damage. It’s already been broken and I work hard to keep the break from splintering into tiny, jagged … More How Do You Protect a Grieving Heart?
New Year’s Eve for our family is usually a pretty low-key affair. This year Darren and I enjoyed an early dinner with a couple of friends then a movie, planning to be home early, then to watch the ball drop. It seemed to be a plan for a perfect evening. That is until our chosen … More Wild Hope
A couple of years ago, while running the Whiskey Flat Trail Run in the mountains near the Kern River, I took my first (please let it be my last) serious fall while running. Like it tends to do during a fall, time slowed down and I felt like I was watching from above. I can … More Scar Sisters
I had a staring contest at Target last weekend. I think I won, but time will tell. Oh, it wasn’t a contest with another person; it was just me versus a box of beautiful Christmas cards, the kind that look like a Thomas Kinkade painting of the perfect Christmas in the perfect neighborhood in some … More Christmas Card Conundrum
I joined the guys on a trip to the gun range yesterday, where they planned to do a little target practice, then get in some sporting clay competition. This isn’t a place I know well; it’s definitely more Darren’s domain than mine. No matter, though, because any time Jake and Zack are involved in something, … More On Guns and Butterflies
During this Thanksgiving week, I’m thinking about the people in my life and how social media has been an instrument for support, love and friendship when it was most needed. I remember like it was yesterday the day I jumped into the Facebook world. It was a rainy afternoon in 2009, and watching my new … More More than Selfies and Silliness
When time got short for Mom, our talks became even more candid. Painfully so. Actually, sometimes it was really “beautifully” so. In January, with just six months left (though we didn’t know it at the time), conversations with Mom were about love and fear and the future. Not Mom’s future; she worried not about her … More Coffee with Dad
The sand was hot and the air was thick and heavy for a November day at the beach. Wednesday afternoon, and I was practically all alone. Finally. After weeks of craving time alone at the ocean, here it was. Me. And God. We have a lot of talking to do. Here on the same beach … More Sand Dollar, Broken and Raw
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