My grandfather died 2 months before my 13th birthday. Other family members died previously, but my grandpa’s death was the first big death I was old enough to remember in any kind of significant way. I had the wind knocked out of me in a way I hadn’t experienced before. It started Labor Day weekend. […]
My grandma always displayed a nativity at Christmas time. She used a simple nativity with painted clay statues when I was growing up. I loved to play with this nativity, especially the tiny sheep and baby Jesus because they were the smallest pieces of the nativity and I thought they were the cutest ones too. […]
In the fall of 2009, I was in the middle of a divorce. My 4.5-year marriage had been failing for longer than it had worked. It became apparent to me that this relationship wasn’t what I needed. A friend of mine owned a small rental house that was empty. She lent me the key so […]
A gratitude practice became a part of my life a handful of years ago. At the time I started this practice all I could see was everything that was “wrong” in the world. I was wasting so much energy on what didn’t appear to be “right” and was looking for a way to shift that […]
This past week, we experienced several days of temperatures in the upper 40s to low 60s. The snow is mostly melted, leaving behind enough sand to build our own beach along the Cedar River and some very, very brown grass. People are out walking in shorts, some green things are starting to peek out from […]
My Aunt Jo made a three-layer German Chocolate Cake from scratch. About 9 years ago, I obtained her recipe from my mom because I wanted a way to connect with Aunt Jo. I wanted to create something she once did. I didn’t like her cake when she was alive to make it because I was […]
I love to read. I usually have 3-4 books going at any one time: a fiction novel or memoir, something for personal/professional development, and a book on history/current events. It’s safe to say that I have an addiction to books. As addictions go, there are worse in the world. This one doesn’t involve needles and […]