I sat by myself on the closet floor with the birthday card in my hand. My tears flowed and dripped off the edge of my chin, leaving a splattering of wet marks all over the front of my shirt. I struggled to catch my breath after a spell of sobbing. I had to read it […]

Happy New Year! There are so many things that I love about a fresh start. I am one of the holdouts who still uses paper calendars and planners, and I happily sit down at the end of December and transfer all of the birthdays and other important dates onto the calendar for the upcoming year. […]

The garden was nothing out of the ordinary. It was the early 1960s and my grandmother was a young wife and mom. As such, she spent countless hours in the kitchen as she prepared meals for her family and washed the resulting dishes. She could see her neighbor’s garden from the kitchen window. It turned […]

The blue duffel bag sat unattended and unnoticed in my husband’s office for a solid week. He is notorious for taking his sweet time unpacking suitcases after a trip. I’m the person who immediately takes bags to the bedroom and returns toiletries to their rightful place so that everything is in order. My husband has […]

Holiday traditions are important to my family.  I must admit, this makes me happy.  In a world where I fight with YouTube or TikTok for my teenagers’ attention I will happily take their interest in baking cookies and decorating the tree. Most years it is a struggle to carve out a few hours of time […]

Days like today make me think of my Granddad.  He was a laid back and jolly guy, but even he had his limits.  I was blessed to live near him when I was growing up.  My siblings and I spent hours on end at my grandparents’ house.  I’d like to think we were generally well-behaved.  […]

I have a confession to make. I hate the elves.  You are probably having one of two reactions right now. Either you are thinking that I am crazy because the Elf on the Shelf is nothing but wonderful Christmas fun, or you are thinking that you finally found a woman after your own heart. Maybe I would feel differently […]

December is here once again. Yay?  I know, it’s supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year.  I have to admit, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this time of year.  December is my frenemy.  I really want to love December unconditionally.  I love it every other month of the year.  […]

Halloween is coming up and excitement is in the air at my house.  Costumes have been ordered/shopped for/made.  (Not made by me, but the 12-year-old is very creative.) The fake spider webs are adorning the bushes outside, and the kids are dreaming about their soon-to-be cache of candy.  Oh, the candy…the candy is their favorite part!  […]

Fall was in the air yesterday with our first swing at 80 degree daytime temperatures.  It was glorious.  The weather won’t hold here yet, but we are about to embark on another milestone: Fall Break.  For those of you with traditional school schedules, Fall Break is a random week off of school in September.  My […]