Living Well

  • Threads

    Last night, I dreamed that a car took me to a home I haven’t visited in years. As I walked to the door, I was unsure of why I was even there, but I was greeted and ushered inside by friends with lots of love and care. The children inside the house had not aged…

  • Last Day

    Given the choice, how would you spend the last day of your life?  On November 2nd, 2012, we were told that our Christmas-loving, enthusiastically gift-giving mother had very little time left.  Dealing with end-stage ovarian cancer, we had hoped she would make it to enjoy her favorite holiday.  She had already online-shopped for all of…

  • Slow

    Lately when I run, I go too fast, get winded, and need to stop and walk. That whole ‘race-stop-walk-race’ cycle is so frustrating, because I lose my stride, I feel like I’m failing, I see others streaming past. Lately when I parent, I race ahead in my mind to the time of college application and…

  • Moms

    I’ve known lots of Moms. At this moment in time, I know several mothers with sick children. These Moms are keeping things going for them and other family members, and they do it with grace and a smile. I know mothers who are sick themselves, and they are doing what it takes to heal, and…

  • Cookies and Tater Tots

    Each time I step into the my hometown elementary school to teach Kindergarten music, I’m hit with the smell of cookies and tater tots.  It’s a smell that brings me right back to the time when my kids attended this school, and it evokes strong memories of those long-ago days.  I can see my Kindergarten-aged…

  • First Spring Run

    Everyone’s running outside today.  After a brutal winter, it’s going to hit 50 degrees, and on a Saturday to boot, so the reluctant treadmill runners are making their way out among the diehard ice and snow crowd.  It’s a beautiful day, a bright blue sky and light wispy clouds, not too windy, and perfect for…

  • Dear Julie,

    Dear Julie, I am truly thankful to God for letting our lives intersect.  It was clear almost from the start that He had a hand in putting us together, and I am grateful.  When I think of you, memories come rushing in, and I want to hold on to them all. I remember… After seeing…

  • Mammography Waiting Room

    I have never been a fan of suspenseful movies, roller coasters, or Halloween.  I never understood people who loved that feeling of being afraid, because to me it is the worst feeling in the world.  Some things you can’t avoid, though, and this scary room is one of them.  If you’re a woman around the…

  • Write Your Own Story

    Imagine a day when it all stops. Your busy-ness, your worries, your challenges, your accomplishments, your fears, your routines, your possessions, any title ever given to you. Gone. What is left is love.  A bright warm light surrounds and envelopes you, and those who have gone before you approach with love and joy in their eyes.…

  • For my Hometown Moms

    Every so often, at a school or sports event, I will look out at the sea of kids and realize the rare privilege we have. We are connected because we occupy one speck of a dot on a map and we are raising our kids in this speck, at this time. We’ve watched this batch…