A fool says, “I can’t;” a wise man says, “I’ll try.” ~Charles Spurgeon Dave Vander Laan posted this as a Facebook status yesterday. I know it’s true. But it made me laugh. Because my mother would have so disagreed. In fact, saying “I’ll try” was not a wise thing to say to her. At. All. […]
Surprised by Light
This is the day the Lord has made. And I am sad. I’ve misplaced my joy today. I’ve been thinking about my mom again. And I’ve been struggling to see her face. Why can’t I see her face? The box she gave me last summer still sits next to the pine grain bin in the […]
Catching Up on the Gifts #1KgiftsDare
Cultivating gratitude and accepting Ann’s Joy Dare in capturing One Thousand Gifts in 2012. January 1: Three things about myself for which I’m grateful. 1. I do not have a terrible job record. I am a simply woman of many interests. (Thank you, Sissy.) 2. My heart is in the shape of a Horseshoe–the […]
Chasing Flickers
I see them looking down from their perches. They’re talking to each other. “There are rumors of black oil, but those cylinders are running on empty.” I scoop seed from the bin and replenish the feeders. I’m distracted by a flicker on a nearby branch, so I hurry inside and come back with the […]
Seed of Yahweh
I’ve been thinking about this seed of Yahweh conceived in love, planted in the cave of a woman-child, confined and nurtured in soft dark womb, nourished with her every heartbeat. How cells of cell multiplied until he fluttered light, then stretched and rose like yeast bread in her warm belly, until her body could no […]
Feelings Fragile
Feelings fragile like delicate ornaments hung high out of reach by thin threads unseen untouchable precarious until with one small bump they plummet and shatter into ashes that lay and wait for Love to sweep them up. Tomorrow we will bury my mother’s ashes. This act will bring some physical closure to a long journey. […]
Puzzling the Pieces and Feeling Like Home
We’ve gone to the family room to Skype them in, the friends from the Netherlands. This technology, it’s new to my dad. My sister tries to describe the room we’re in. The sofa, she says, pulls out into a double bed. And the chairs recline. I’m surprised. They recline? Did they tell us that? They […]
Popping the Cork
I came home for a couple days of grandgirl duty because my husband had to go out of town. He didn’t greet me, and I didn’t see him under the dining room table. I knew right away. He jumped down from the dresser and trotted out when I opened the door. I knew it had […]
Gifted in Grief
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 back […]
Rest and Refresh
We spent a couple of nights in the Days Inn. And then early morning hours in a small hospital waiting room lit by Coke and candy machines. That was the night my mom’s blood pressure was whack. My sister swiped a couple pillows off a stretcher in a hallway and cleaned them with her always-present […]
