If Jacob was gifted cash for his birthday, he knew what he wanted before he ever reached the store. If he received a gift card, he was usually bargaining with his dad before the party was over, ready to trade it for cash because he already had the money spent. As my dad said of …
Are You My Brother?
While my daughter and I were downtown, we stopped off at the local book shop to peruse the childrens book section with my grandson, Thomas. I was pleasantly surprised to see many older titles I thought may have been out of print alongside newly published authors. We made our selection and headed to the cashier. …
Are Your Ears Itching?
When I was younger, I remember my grandparents asking someone if their ears were burning, meaning that someone, possibly even they, had been talking about them behind their backs. Maybe my papa’s mother had heard someone gossiping about someone else at the mill or maybe a little bird told my grandmother. These commonly used idioms …
No Fear of Missing Out
The kids are in bed. My husband snores contentedly by my side. The laundry and dishes are all caught up. I’ve brushed my teeth and climbed into bed, only I’m unable to close my eyes for more than a minute. I must be forgetting something. It’s simply too quiet. Everything seems to be in order …
Final Destination
My husband and I applied for our RealID cards to replace our drivers licenses on the same day. Neither of us will ever forget the experience. We tell the story around the dinner table and still get a good belly laugh. The camera operator insisted on taking several shots until my husband smiled to her …
Addlepated
I stood in my kitchen, frozen, unable to pinpoint the reason I’d walked so deliberately from the other room. I looked around then retraced my steps. Nothing. Something I’d been reading triggered a thought with purpose and intention and I’d acted on it immediately, not wanting to forget. Did I need to add an item …
Reality Filtered
Photo by Ashley Goodlett The community grocery store near our first home had an automated coin sorting machine the size of a smart car. My husband took our children there periodically to cash in the pocket change he’d saved up for special adventures. The kids loved the clanking and flashing that followed their upturned paper …
Who Is Jesus?
My grandson will experience his first egg hunt this Easter Sunday. The younger cousins, the ones his mother used to hide eggs for, are making plans. At only eight months, it’s more for us than for him, but there’ll be plenty of pictures. The eggs will be “hidden” in plain sight for him to pick …
The Choice Is Yours
I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first? Wouldn’t it be nice if all we got was good news? What if we only ever had good news to share? The weather would always be sunny with no rain on weekends or holidays. Every student would pass and no one would fail …
Can You See?
My daughter and her husband both love ice cream. She always ribs him because he asks, “is yours good?” meaning he wants to taste hers too. She forgets that when she was small and said she wanted to share, it meant she wanted to taste ours. If I asked her for a bite, she would …
A Fitting Reply 