I sit here craving your presence I close my eyes hoping to feel you close All the things I busy myself with Seem to pull me further away.
Impossible Christmas Joy
Christmas is a complicated season. At the surface, the media sends us the message that it is the “most wonderful time of year” filled with candy canes, happy smiling children,…
Top 15 Thanksgiving Bible Verses
As is custom on Thanksgiving Day, giving thanks for all we have can be easy or hard depending on what’s going on in our lives. If things are tough, it’s…
5 Life Lessons from The Music Man
The story of Harold Hill, Marion Paroo, and all the townspeople of River City, Iowa in the classic music by Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man is one of near disaster and certain redemption. What could have ended with tar and feathering, lost money, and broken dreams in fact, ended in love, forgiveness, and changed hearts and attitudes towards, well, traveling salesmen among other things.
The Lost Art of Thank You Notes
My grandmother practically lived to write thank you notes, or so it seemed. Upon arriving at her memorial service at her senior residence this past February, the music director, David,…
Homecoming [Poem]
When all the tears have dried and left a salty stain upon my cheek I sit and feel the void, the sadness I now feel when life has had it’s…
The Tension of Motherhood
There are lots of different “zones” in life, but the zone of motherhood—with all its different ages and stages—is one zone that can never be completely outgrown. Once you’ve become…
May’s Motherhood Race
It’s May again, and like an unleashed torrent of water from a plugged hole in a dam, the flood of activities, field trips, end-of-year wrap-up events sweeps us moms away at an alarming rate. The May motherhood race is upon us, yet again.
Bud [Poem]
Opening, pushing through budding, birthing the cold has done its work. Growth under surface harboring, planning then release.
Gift of You [Poem]
Few things in life can fully capture the impact a loved one can have on us. For me, my grandparents held a very special place in my heart as they…
I Need Help (and so do you)
I can’t do it any longer. I can’t do it alone, and neither can you. I’ve tried to make it all come together perfectly, but I can’t. The holidays form a kind of microcosmic vortex of realization wherein my weakness shows up in droves. I need help (and so do you).
Christmas Claustrophobia [Poem]
I wrote this poem, Christmas Claustrophobia, while raising three small children in a small 1100 square foot house. Each Christmas I would dread all the “stuff” from the decorations to the gifts because I enjoy a clutter-free home . . . which is somewhat of a distant memory.