It always begins with just one. Any collection starts this way, and then grows and grows until those who know you best just shake their heads when they hear you’ve bought another one. For me, it was a clear plastic picture frame with confetti hearts inside. As a teenager, this seemed fun and youthful and […]
Category: Truth
Lessons learned in the passenger’s seat
I’m not supposed to be here. Hot. Sweating profusely, in fact. Ready to throw up or faint, but not sure which way it’s going to go. My head is spinning. Emotions going haywire. All I want to do is yell, “stop!” And then move back into the driver’s seat, where I am in control. Comfortable. […]
At the mercy of chaos no longer
It began with one resounding gong. Then another. Which led to yet another. In the dreamy haze of 1 a.m. sleep, I tried to hold on. Another loud clang, a sound that seemed to go bone deep, and I felt sleep lifting from me. I tried to claw my way back to the blessed rest […]
Hope ever after
Always wearing her easily broken heart on her sleeve, Marianne Dashwood has had enough of her sensible sister, Elinor. And in common Marianne fashion, she lets Elinor have it. “Always resignation and acceptance. Always prudence and honor and duty. Elinor, where is your heart?” To which steadfast and long-suffering Elinor finally responds in kind: “What […]
What the world needs now is love, genuine love
The other day, I was jamming along to tunes from the 60s in my car, when I was swept away in an instant to childhood by the tune What the World Needs Now Is Love. Perhaps I should explain. My sisters and I loved to have shopping days with my mom. We lived out in […]
Busted – when our hearts speak
She would sweep up to the front of the classroom, her long skirt rustling, her glorious curls bouncing. She wore colorful reading glasses on a beaded string like a necklace, was quick to laugh at the antics of her students, and was always excited to teach us something new in biology. Ever-present coffee cup in […]
Because you say so
Its name was Alby. To this day, no one has been able to figure out why our toddler named her favorite blanket Alby. But Alby, it was. And not only did Alby have a name; Alby had a personality. Scratch that. Alby was a personality. Alby was an attitude, a way for our little girl […]
A glorious exchange – what we can learn from the angels in the nativity story
It was solemn business. With Christmas around the corner, Mom and Dad brought us four kids into the living room and had us sit down on the sofa. “We are going to draw names,” Mom explained. “There are four names in here, all folded up, one for each of you. And the name you pick […]
Musings on Jonah, Part One: Is it right for you to be angry?
A few years back, I was embroiled in a vicious cycle of anger and hurt over the way my daughter had been treated. And a very dear friend said to me, “Courtnie, you and I are both angry about this. The difference is that you are ashamed of your anger, while I am proud of […]
Under construction
My daughter’s room has been through nearly as many changes as she has over the years. From a darling ladybug/bee/butterfly nursery to a pink princess theme to a transitional stage where she began to despise pink and love mint green. It was then, when she was in seventh grade, that we repainted her walls a […]
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