I Became a Mama Bear
It is Saturday. I am volunteering in my usual capacity at the family center. Outside, lines of people are here to receive a box of free food. Some people come – not because they are hungry. They come because they are welcome. No one is turned away. I am in the family center store at…
Holy Saturday — In the Middle
You may know the heartache and feelings when one of your closest friends or family members passed away, yesterday. You wake up the day after, and it’s up to you to handle the responsibilities of planning the funeral, the burial, notifying relatives, and figuring out what to do without them. You are expected to hold…
The Chapters of My Love Story
The first chapter of my love story began when I was a little girl seeing the adoring love that my mom and dad had for each other. I witnessed their sweet affection for each other. In fact, my dad couldn’t keep his hands off my mom. “Roscoe, QUIT!” She would cry out when he was…
Our Safe Place
We live in a world of keys, locks, alarms, and security systems. We protect the things that are most valuable to us. I asked Karen if she wanted Mom to have her wedding ring on for the viewing last Thursday, and then we could remove it once the casket would be tightly closed. She told…
A Million Dollar Gift
Have you ever thought those thoughts or played that game? When we were in Cabo, Ryan always came up with a subject for us to discuss around the dinner table. One of those times, he asked the question: “If you were given a million dollars, would you give it away or keep it for your…
Untangling the Knots
When I moved, I had a brilliant idea to hang my necklaces and chains on a couple of hangers with a plastic bag pulled on from the bottom up. Or so I thought it was a brilliant idea. Not so much. I’m still untangling the tangled! And there are many of us whose lives are…
My Red River Trip Turns Out to be a Reboot
It’s a blessing when blog content shows up when I least expect it. I’ve cherished this time with family as we fish, eat together, travel the countryside, and carry on conversations about our lives (after so many years apart). But, this day, I wanted to go solo. I wanted to take in the sights, sounds,…
I’m Declaring My Liberty and Freedom
July 4th is always a day to celebrate America’s birthday in some way even if it’s only wearing some red, white and blue. For my family, it always meant shooting off some “black cats”, “rockets”, sparklers and a few “chasers” that made us high-tail it! There was always hamburgers and hot dogs with the all-American…