I’m guessing I was pretty much a handful for my barely 20-year-old mom. Why? Because the very first thing I remember is she spit at me. It’s my first memory. When she leaned over the side rail and spit smack in my face. She said she didn’t do it. Didn’t remember doing it. But […]
leaning into the winds of change
White waves roll across the field, and cyclones swirl from the surface. The feeder’s are a’flurry, and the windows thunk more often as the birds bounce off them. Everyone’s talking about the weather. Janice Dean of Fox News says she’s never seen anything like it in all her years as a meteorologist. But I remember […]
move forward, bounce back, and press on
I realized it just this morning. She was my age. She was also a nurse. Instrumental, I understand, in birthing this place. She was admitted the same day we were, to the room next door to ours. She’d done battle for 18 years. A bone marrow donor stood ready, but she could not bounce […]
helping a child transition
Packing up the dreams God planted In the fertile soil of you Can’t believe the hopes He’s granted Means a chapter of your life is through. ~Michael W. Smith I find Jacoba Brenda in a storage tub, buried with her sisters under musty newborn-turned-doll clothes. I gently pull her out and cup her beany body […]
i want to be a stripper
I left a comment at Jennifer’s last night… way too late for me to be near the computer. Ann Kroeker, who’s working with Charity Singleton Craig to lead a group of us in “The Writing Life,” a workshop through Tweetspeak Poetry, was Jennifer’s #TellHisStory featured writer this week. She wrote about the importance of finding the […]
when jealousy visits
Jealousy is one of the occupational hazards of being a writer, and the most degrading. And I, who have been the Leona Helmsley of jealously, have come to believe that the only things that help ease or transform it are (a) getting older, (b) talking about it until the fever breaks, and (c) using it […]
who heals broken hearts
My shoe covers rustle along the linoleum floor until I come to the holding area. I find her, eyes closed on the gurney, brown wisps around green paper cap. A tiny lady almost swallowed by crisp white and warm woven. I pick up the chart at the foot of the bed and page through it. […]
a world of wonder, and a fragrance of redemption
The air breathes cool through the open window, wafts past the “clean cotton” Yankee Candle votive that releases just a hint of fragrance. The shrub sways in time with the bell rope, and a hummingbird buzzes at the feeder, hovers in place, sips and savors. A wasp with legs dangling wants in the garage […]
when you’re locked and blocked and your memory fails
I’m backed into a grove of trees next to the softball field fence. I usually just hang out here while Grace practices for two hours. I read and write, doze a little, cheer a little, maybe listen to a Tiger’s game. It’s hot today, but I’ve rolled the windows down and a cool breeze […]
the finger of God
I see God’s creative finger in all seasons. But never more, I think, than in the spring when life unfurls. These are the days when all that glitters is green. Yet life is sometimes blood-tinged like the color of death in this new leaf. That also carries the color of hope. Because life is in […]
