The year my mother and brother died, we decided to have a big ole family Christmas at my parents’ house. Everyone would be there from my mom’s side of the family. We even decided to draw names and exchange gifts. My mom and brother had only died 23 days apart from each other. It started in October, so we were all still very raw and pretty much going through life like zombies. Continue reading Life is Like a Chocolate Pie
On a recent trip to my local grocery store, I spent way too much time trying to find the fly swatters. It is summer, and a few of those pesky little critters found their way into my house. I finally stopped to ask a gentleman employed by the store if he knew where I could find a fly swatter.
He turned to me and asked, “A what?”
“A fly swatter,” I replied.
Now, the gentleman crept a few steps closer to me, and inquired again, “A what?”
I thought maybe the man was slightly hard of hearing, so I answered again, “A fly swatter”. This time I could see on his face that it wasn’t that he couldn’t hear me…he couldn’t understand me. Very quickly I added, “Fly swatter…F. L. Y. swatter”.
Touchdown! I realized the gentleman finally knew what I was saying.
“Oh…a fly swatter! With your accent, I couldn’t understand what you were saying,” he proceeded to explain as he led me to the item. Continue reading Sometimes You Feel Like the Fly – Sometimes You Feel Like the Swatter
There are a lot of things I miss about the church I grew up in – seeing my aunts, uncles, and cousins on a regular basis is pretty high on the list – but those fellowship meals are some of my fondest memories.
Of course it was wonderful to spend time with all the members of the church, but…the food…
the food…
the FOOD!
That’s what I miss! Yes…I was raised Baptist. Baptist need to eat. Together. Often. Continue reading The Fellowship of the Brethren
Oftentimes, my husband asks me things like this:
“What do you want to do this evening?”, “Where would you like to eat?”, “Would you rather go to the movies or stay in tonight?”.
My answers are usually something along these lines:
“Whatever you want to do”, “Wherever is fine with me”, “Doesn’t matter to me”.
These types of responses are not what he would like to hear most of the time. However, they are actually the truth. I don’t care what we are doing, I just want to be with him. Being with him is enough for me. It’s not about what we are doing…it’s that we are together. That’s the prize for me – simply being with him. Continue reading In The Presence of God
More than 16 years ago now, I stood at my bathroom vanity on the phone and listened as my father explained to me how he didn’t think we were going to get much of a break between the death of my mother – whom we had buried only two weeks prior – and the death of my brother, Robin. I struggle with writing this now almost as much as I struggled with comprehending the reality of the situation then. My brother had been diagnosed with cancer about two years before. He was five years older than me, and had been my hero growing up. He was Superman. He was adventurous, athletic, brave, beautiful, and I was pretty sure he could leap tall buildings in a single bound. It was unthinkable that at just 38 years old he had already found his kryptonite, but it was unbearable to face the loss of both my mother and my brother at the same time. Continue reading Wherever He Leads I’ll Go
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