I have this core belief that inside each of us rests a story that needs to be told, and we are doing the world an injustice by not sharing it. But sometimes – before we share a story with the world, we need permission to accurately share it with ourselves, without explanation or apology. One […]
Why I Think It’s Still Important to Teach Boys To Hold the Door for a Lady
The other day, I was walking into a bank. I was weighed down with a heavy one-year-old, a diaper bag, a purse, a folder of legal documents, and a couple of allergy bags for my oldest two children. My shirt was riding up, my pants were falling down, my one-year-old was trying to escape, and […]
Praying Over Plastic Horses and Dreams that Don’t Come True
Once upon a time, I wanted a horse. I wanted a horse so badly I could barely stand it. Every night I begged my daddy for a horse, and he laughed and said, “Maybe when you are ten. Maybe then you can have a horse.” Well, I wasn’t ten. First I was six, then seven, […]
Joy Comes in the Morning . . .
One of the darkest nights of my life happened when I was 21 years old and a junior in college. I had recently experienced something incredibly traumatic, but I was trying to hold it together and press on. After a brief respite at my parents’ house, I was proceeding as if nothing had happened: going […]
Writing While Angry (WWA), and Why You Shouldn’t Do It
As many of you know, I’ve been blogging for about five years now . . . learning many lessons along the way. Among those, one of the most important has been learning when to write, or perhaps I should say – learning when not to write. And I’ve had to make some rules for myself, […]
Halloween: A Story of Transformation for One Food Allergy Family
Once upon a time, Halloween was the most dreaded day on the calendar for me. I had two small children, ages 3 and 1, who had both been diagnosed with severe food allergies, and I had already made several mad dashes to the hospital with children in various stages of anaphylaxis in my backseat. For […]