After she died, we found it tucked in the magazine rack next to the recliner, still encased in its wrinkled manila mailing envelope, its crisp pages blank. Her favorite childhood toy, her most embarrassing moment, how she met her husband never recorded. We’d given it to her two years before. My mother-in-law was the family […]
31 Days on Coming to Grips with My Age ~ Day 16: Sip by Sip
To steep ourselves in every moment. This is how we should live, no matter our age. Types of Tea and Their Health Benefits Tea should be taken in solitude. ~attributed to C.S. Lewis Do you drink tea? Alone or with company? What’s your favorite kind? Why?
31 Days on Coming to Grips with My Age ~ Day 15: Back to the Beginning
It’s dark. It’s early. I’m awake. He’s left the shades up this time like I asked (again), and I’m glad. I like to watch the morning come. Another beginning. I’m pretty sure he’s awake, too. I wonder if he knows I am. I’m still. My head and heart are so heavy with to-do’s and needs. […]
Scripture Sunday: Take Delight (Day 14)
Oh, how sweet the light of day, And how wonderful to live in the sunshine! Even if you live a long time, don’t take a single day for granted. Take delight in each light-filled hour, Remembering that there will also be many dark days And that most of what comes your way is smoke. Ecclesiastes […]
Still Saturday: Being is Not Wasting (Day 13)
“Perhaps one of the saddest things we can do is waste time, as Shakespeare knew when he had Richard the Second cry out, ‘I have wasted time, and now doth time waste me.’ “But being time is never wasted time. When we are being, not only are we collaborating with chronological time, but we are […]
Five Minute Friday: There is No Hurry (Day 12)
I pour tomatoes and chop sweet onion. Then snip parsley frills and crush the basil, sprinkle salt, add spoonful of sugar. Stir. I race against the clock. Hurry. A tasty sauce takes time to simmer. But hungry stomachs will arrive at six. I rattle glasses, bang stainless, wash and wipe. Outside a silver needle threads its […]
31 Days on Coming to Grips with my Age ~ Days 6-10: I Never Imagined
Day 10 It’s still dark. I kiss Dennis goodbye. Inhale his cologne. I throw back the covers, feel around for bathrobe. Find my slippers that Lillee carried around last night. Turn up heat. Wake up Grace. Make some oatmeal. Think hard. Do I need to make a lunch? No, not today. They’re having taco bar. […]
Scripture Sunday: Until I’m Old and Gray (Day 5)
Still Saturday: Last Days of Fragrance (Day 4)
“Clarence died full of years and short of breath . . . In all the time Clarence attended the church where I pastor, he never did a thing other than show up . . . But the roots ran deep, and the branches stretched sturdy and long, and oh, the fruit. That man was clasped […]
31 Days on Coming to Grips with My Age ~ Day 3: A Lesson from the Leaves
God draped our woods with Jacob’s coat while I soul stripped on the edge of the Frio. The countryside explodes with color. “Aren’t the trees just beautiful? I can’t get over how they popped while I was in Texas.” Grace agrees. “But you know they’re dying, right? The colors mean they’re dying.” We’ve pulled into […]
