Why We Are Here
Seventy-eight years ago, the great grandmother—a slip of a girl in a dark cape dress—floated on her back in the middle of a wide green lake to keep from drowning, and that is why we are here. Sixty-seven years ago, her
My Child’s Grief Gave Me Permission to Feel
My six-year-old daughter wouldn’t touch the food on her plate. I asked what was wrong, but she shook her head. After clearing the table, I asked her to follow me back to our bedroom. Kindergarten can really wear her out, and
Ode to a Bygone Era
Growing up, we didn’t have a lot of extra money for vacations, so we would visit state parks, which were free. Our favorite was Lake Barkley in Cadiz, Kentucky. About four times a year we would rent a cabin for
If We Are Going to Come Out of This Whole, We Have to Use This Season to Heal
We planted our garden two weeks ago. Since then, we have had two bouts of frost and a sudden, fleeting flurry of snow. Last evening, while supper baked in the oven, my eldest daughter and I went to check on
The Upside Down Kingdom
Ten at night on a university campus. My feet hurt. I shivered in my thin sweater. My bag weighed about a thousand pounds. I had asked three students for directions, but I still couldn’t find the parking garage where my
My Rainbow Baby
On May 21, 2017, my three-year-old became my middle child. She has been an incredible big sister—never once showing jealousy toward our new arrival—but recently this transition has revealed itself in other ways. For 2.5 years, we have known our three-year-old
Who’s Immortal Now?
My husband and I silently sat in our wooden booth, waiting for our breakfast to arrive. It was only 10 o’clock, but we’d been awake for five hours and were still trying to process what the neurosurgeon had said. Though my husband’s
“I Hated Orange Beach”
Yesterday, my eldest daughter said she hated Orange Beach. I only remembered laughing while zooming down the slide, sitting in the hot-tub to warm up after my daughters and I swam in one of the resort’s chilly pools, or peering into
Enjoy Them While They’re Young
On Saturday, my husband and I left our house a mess and took the girls to the fall festival in town. The cool breeze stripped a few leaves off the trees and sent them scuttling down the sidewalk as we
The Story’s in the Growth
This week, I went for my daily walk and saw my husband had pulled a chair over to our creek. It moved me to picture my better half, of almost nine years, sitting there and being still. With my three-month-old