The year my daughter received a fifteen hundred piece puzzle for Christmas and determined we would not to go to bed until it was finished was the year I stopped enjoying jigsaw puzzles. We finished it, framed it, and said never again! She still enjoys puzzles and games, but with a newborn at home, they’re …
Walking Down Briers
When I received my cancer diagnosis and we found that I would need radiation and chemotherapy before having surgery to remove my tumor, my husband began walking with me and the Danes twice daily, weather-permitting, to keep my heart healthy for surgery. Our community has many well-groomed walking trails, but Paul began cutting a trail …
Service Not Status
It snowed again last night. Here in the south, we rarely see two snows in one winter, much less in one week! As the temperature neared fifty midweek, the first snow melted, leaving sketchy patches of snow across the dormant grass. Bermuda turns straw-colored in winter but remains thickly thatched year round. It’s very much …
I Will Not Be Moved
Twelve. The number of homes I’ve occupied in my lifetime. Three before I was married and nine since. Half we’ve owned, half we’ve rented. Some of our moves have been from necessity but some have been our choice. All have been within the same state. In every location, I’ve felt secure, but not necessarily because …
Seamless
Transitioning year to year is fairly seamless. Were it not for the traditional celebrations ringing in the midnight hour, one day would end with a new one beginning while we slept. Nothing noteworthy differentiates December thirty-first from January first in the passing of time. The weather is identical. The days remain short. Some folks have …
The When That Never Came
I remember my first Christmas married and before kids, my husband and I had big dreams for the future and very little money. We were both in school and working part time. I was an undergraduate in Accounting and he was in his second year of medical school. I worked as a teller at a …
Real Live Baby
On Thanksgiving Day, everyone gathered at my grandmother’s for lunch joined hands to ask God’s blessing on our meal. Just before my daddy prayed, my younger son announced that he and his wife are expecting my second grandchild in June. I gave his hand a squeeze and glanced across at his wife who was holding …
Keeping Appointments
In the early weeks after my cancer diagnosis, I endured multiple doctors’ appointments each week. Once my radiation began last November, I visited the cancer center daily, five days a week, excepting weekends and holidays for twenty-eight days. Chemotherapy meant seeing the doctor and having labs drawn on Monday, a four hour session in the …
Selling Out
It’s a seller’s market out there! When my daughter and her husband learned that his medical training would continue in North Carolina this spring, they immediately began looking for housing. A new listing would appear and before they could contact their agent, the property was under contract. With barely enough time to close before their …
Responding To God
I listened to my daughter humming as she rocked my grandson, Thomas. The sweet, sleepy tune repeating was so very familiar. As she hummed, the words came back to me. “I love You, Lord, and I lift my voice to worship You, O my soul, rejoice! Take joy, my King, in what You hear and …
A Fitting Reply 