Updated on March 28, 2019
On taking a break
How many of you are good at taking breaks? I’m convinced that my teenagers are pros at it! But, me? Well, I am terrible. I can plow through the work in front of me for hours on end without ever stopping to look up. I will forget to eat lunch, forget to pause and take a breath, forget that I have children who need to be fed and kept from riding their bikes over fences. I will only see the work. The ticking of the clock and the constant whir of my spinning brain will drown out everything around me. Take a break? What’s that?
Updated on February 28, 2019
To the lady who gave me peanut butter and grace at Walmart
Peanut butter. I just need peanut butter. And a few more hours in the day, but Walmart is all out of those. So I settle for peanut butter. Feeling overwhelmed by the never-ending race against the ticking clock, I wheel around the corner of the aisle and nearly take her down with my cart.
Updated on February 14, 2019
In search of the perfect Valentine’s Day gift
She met the perfect guy but she’s not sure what to get him for Valentine’s Day. I mean what do you get a guy who you just met but who you know you are going to marry? She asks the question loudly into her cell phone as she and I turn the corner of the Target aisle at the same time and collide. The heart-covered stuffed unicorn she is holding goes flying into the air. My boy mom reflexes kick in, though, and I manage to catch it one-handed. As I give it back to her I think, that’s probably not the message you are going for.
Posted on February 7, 2019
Doing new things doesn’t have to be so complicated
Her goal is to grab a middle seat. She tells me this confidently as we stand in the queue waiting to board the plane. We’re clutching our phones, boarding passes displaying that we are just one number apart in the Southwest seating system. I smile and wonder at the strangeness of her request. Who boards a plane in the A group looking for a middle seat?
Updated on January 24, 2019
Things break. What matters is what we do with the pieces
He sped his brand new remote control car into a tree and the wheel broke. He threw a water bottle at a shelf in my office and a statue cracked. He launched a wooden plane across our living room and a glass decoration shattered. And all of this shocks him. Each time he comes right to me holding out these broken things. I didn’t know that was going to happen, he insists, I didn’t mean for it to break! Can you fix it?
Posted on January 10, 2019
A prayer as we begin
And so we begin again. January wind blows in and reminds us that time waits for no man. We are moved into the newness of this season whether we like it or not. And some of us are lovers of this new place. We embrace it with our lists and our goals and all of the ways we know we can improve upon last year’s model. The unknown invigorates us. Others of us walk into it timidly; we stand on tiptoe and peer over the edge. We long to get a glimpse of the ending before we embark upon this beginning. Because what if? What if it’s a lot the same? What if it doesn’t work? What if we can’t do it all? And so today as we near the end of this first week of a new year. I simply want to offer you this.
Updated on March 5, 2019
One to grow on — a look back at 2018
“Turn your head! Yes, your entire head! Do not trust your mirrors! Always look behind you before you move over!” I’ve said these words a thousand times this year as we’ve worked to grow our oldest teenager into a driver. This is no easy task here on our busy suburban roads. And one of the most challenging parts has been teaching him how to change lanes. It is a strange thing to keep moving forward while also looking backward. But it is a skill all drivers must master. So I keep reminding him, “Move your head and look with your eyes! Make sure you know what’s back there!” Once you get a good look, then you can go.
Updated on December 20, 2018
The thing about Joy
Dear all of you “Christmas joy makers”, these words are for you and for me. I know you’re out there. You probably don’t even think you have time to read this little post. You have Christmas joy to make. It’s a big job, I know. I see you racing about, eyes on the clock, lists in hand. I hear you on the phone in the never-ending check-out lines making all the plans. Christmas won’t come if you don’t make it. I know.
Updated on December 13, 2018
Are you missing a peace?
“Peace on the earth, goodwill to men. From heaven’s all gracious king! The world in solemn stillness lay to hear the angels sing” (Sears). Solemn stillness. What would that be like? I wonder as that Christmas carol plays quietly in the background of our un-solemn pre-dinner chaos. Our week of peace seems to be lacking a key ingredient and my brain is struggling hard with the disconnect.
Updated on December 6, 2018
Letting hope slow you down
My kids are hoping that it is going to snow; the type of Southern snow that shuts down the whole city — especially the schools. I am half listening to their predictions as I race around the house hoping I didn’t really leave my phone on the counter at the bank. There’s math homework on the kitchen table and a kid hoping the Elf on the Shelf might do it for him. And frozen meat in the sink I’m hoping the microwave can thaw in time for dinner. The whole house seems to be anchored in place by the weight of all this hope.
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