The Grief Diaries: Fall

Andrew liked fall. I don’t have official confirmation, but based on the things he loved, I think I could make the case. As those things, football, the state fair, Halloween, come to life this year, we are reminded both of what he loved and what we’ve lost. Last spring, as the buds began to appear, […]

Howling Cow

I learned about farms much the way most kids do, in the pages of a picture book. My grandparents were Nebraska farmers and my dad grew up on the farm, but I was raised on the streetlight-lined streets of suburban Oklahoma. Sure, we like a good Farmer’s Market and enjoy a nice Farm to Table […]

The Grief Diaries: Part One

Last week, my sister, Emilie, and I spent a long time wandering the LEGO store at the mall near my home. The store is new, much closer than the one in Raleigh. We were greeted by a store worker who accepted our polite dismissal of assistance without a drop in his smile. An avid LEGO […]

An Annual Lifelong Commitment

We’d been married about two months when I looked in the newspaper for Free-to-Good-Home cats and found Butler, a grey and white tuxedo boy about nine months old, and the best friend a young, often-to-be-alone, far-from-home gal could have hoped for. I needed a pet. I’d always had one. The year we lived in Australia, […]

The Usual Suspects

I’ve reached a complicated age regarding my ability to see. I started wearing glasses in my sophomore year of high school and eventually moved primarily to contact lenses in my mid-20s. As I entered my 40s, I realized that I was having a harder time with reading up close. As a teenager, I remember being […]

I Love a Parade

My alma mater, Moore High School, organized a homecoming parade every fall. Much like any other high school parade you might encounter it included: the homecoming court in convertibles, the band, school clubs, athletic teams, and livestock. Yes, livestock. I was in the parade as part of the gymnastics team. We wore our leotards, oh […]

Windows & Mirrors

The Saturday before my birthday, I took a road trip to Greensboro with my sister, Emilie, who was in town for the weekend. Elisabeth and Rachel jumped in the car with us, and we headed for the Greensboro Science Center, a cool hybrid zoo, aquarium, and museum that is the perfect destination for this challenge: […]

Of Magnets and Memories

I’ve never been much of a collector; it’s hard when you move a lot. As a kid, I didn’t have any obsessive interest or a particular preoccupation that might have been the impetus for a collection.I didn’t encourage my kids to be collectors either. As an adult, I do have enough notebooks and coffee mugs, […]

And the Beat Goes On

There is something about live music, live theater, and live sports; experiencing such talent in real time always makes me emotional. It is one of those times in life when I am aware I am alive.

Maybe This Should Come With a Trigger Warning For Grief

Hi, it’s me, your walking nightmare. Andrew, our youngest child and only son, just 25-years-old, died on October 24, 2024. That’s hard to write. It’s harder to say, it’s even harder to believe. I could say he passed away or we had to say goodbye or, I hate this one the most, that we lost […]