Meaning(Full) Life

I sat with my dad on the eve of a second heart surgery. His thirteen year old replacement valve now needs replacing. We talked about his great-grandchildren and how quickly they’re growing. We caught up on the day to day and tried to solve the world’s problems, but I could sense what was really on …

Focus Forward

As I drove home from visiting my daughter in the mountains earlier this evening, I watched the sun setting. My southeastern route meandered through the foothills and the pinks and oranges of dusk stayed to my right until one winding section placed the western sky right in front of me. This is the view I …

Making Much of My God in Every Moment :: A Fitting Reply

My interest in writing found its earliest expression in my high school journalism classes. The passionate and energetic teacher coupled with a newfound friend group led to my first college visit, the school of journalism at the state university during my senior year, and eventually to declaring English as my major when I enrolled as …

Self Perfected

I’ve only been a grandmother for a little over a year, but I adore my grandchildren! Infants and toddlers are the most precious among us but they are also the epitome of self-centeredness. Their complete dependence on someone besides themselves for care also makes them the most vulnerable. As our children grow, our goal as …

Magnify

My youngest strode across the blacktop, chest puffed out, looking like he was about to pop. Before he was even in the car, in a rush of words he explained how he was the only one who already knew how to use the microscopes and how the professor had asked him to help everyone else …

Lead By Example

I’ve been the mother in the grocery store with the screaming baby, just trying to finish and get home with a shred of dignity, or is it sanity?I’ve since seen mothers in the store with little ones who are past the point of no return and I wonder at the varied responses I see to …

Out With The Old

Thomas and I crossed the restaurant to speak to a group of ladies, friends I hadn’t seen in several years. He clung to me bashfully, face against my shoulder, until one of the others used her experienced grandmother voice to draw him out. After that, he was all smiles and we all laughed at the …

Small Talk

Thomas, who is turning one, has discovered whispering. It started with one of his counting books. When I noticed his attention waning by the number four, I whispered that particular rhyme and since then, each time I read or recite this book, he looks to me for the whispered lines. This week, in an attempt …

Venting

My youngest was the last of my children living at home until his marriage nearly two years ago. Jacob and I became venting partners during those last few years after his sister married and left home. Prior to his brain surgeries for his epilepsy, he didn’t drive and I was his Uber to work and …