Spring Update from the Writing Desk
Good gracious! It's been a long winter. Spring slips in and out, teasing us with her balmy weather and earthy scent. Winter grapples with her, wanting to throw a few good freezing jabs our way before he finally relents and…
It’s Been a Year: Lessons from 2021
As 2020 came to a close on this day last year, I exhaled a prayer of thanks. It was, after all, an awful year. As ever, December is a month of anticipation, reflection, and hope for me. Looking back to…
Choosing Present Over Productive
My family just returned from a two-month road trip. Seriously, the stuff of dreams. After 18 years of teaching, my husband and I finally had a 100% work-free summer and traveled the country with our children. It was pure magic.…
You Can’t Drive a Parked Car
Momentum is hard to come by sometimes. External circumstances, internal conflict, or a combination of the two often keep us in "park" when we should be "driving" in life. And I'm getting tired of it.
There’s Power in Planning
Failure to plan well took a toll on my writing life in 2020. This proved to be a valuable lesson as I enter 2021.
The Triumphant Rise of the Shlumpadinka
Ringing in 2020 felt so exciting before we knew better. A new decade, a blank calendar page—lots of hope and promise ahead. We barely got the champagne flutes washed and put away before COVID consumed our collective consciousness. Our shiny…
That Was a Quite a Trip (Around the Sun)
Today my older daughter asked what I wanted to do about my birthday this year. She and her husband just bought their first home, so she wants to have us over for cake. I hadn’t given it much thought and…
The Fatiguing Nature of Uncertainty
Life has been markedly different for the past six months in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Work, school, shopping, and socializing changed in ways nobody could have anticipated. With these changes comes stress and a looming uneasiness caused by the…
When Life is Done, Light Carries On
This past week brought news of the deaths of two key figures in the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Ironically, Rep. John Lewis and Rev. C.T. Vivian both died on July 17th after dedicating their lives to pursuing civil…