simply me and jeans

Aging is such a strange thing.  We observe it so clearly in our youth and hardly recognize it at all as we experience it in real time. My stiff joints, spotty memory and lined skin is shocking at times but, for all intents and purposes, my brain still functions as if I were twenty something.  I catch […]

People often ask if I got what I was looking for out of my trip to Scotland but I’m not sure how to answer that question. I was never sure what I was looking for.  I struggled with whether to go in the first place and almost backed out a few times because, let’s be honest, […]

Father, forgive my hesitant heart. Although I speak of your faithfulness and remember your love, I still falter when casting my net into the water.   Forgive this doubt that lives in the shadows of my disappointments and sorrows.  It doesn’t overtly speak but stirs up “rational” analysis and mitigation in the face of your call. Forward […]

I remember the day I stopped misspelling “desert” and “dessert.” It was 2nd grade and my teacher said, “You don’t want more time in the desert, but you always want more dessert. Right? So, dessert has more S’s just like you would want more dessert.” It’s 50 years later and I haven’t forgotten that lesson. […]

I float through the dark as hoards of shadows crash into me. Pushing me every which way until I lose sight of light…of land…of life.  With one hand I search for something solid and with the other I swat away faceless figures. The disoriented and futile fight leaves room for more shadows to creep into […]

One of the mysteries of my life is my brain. Why I crave a chocolate croissant and tea on hard days is beyond me but, I can’t argue with the comfort it brings my heart. I had it from a Parisian cafe almost everyday while Steve was in ICU. I hardly ate anything else during […]

My Daddy taught me to love gardening and I think of him every year around Valentine’s Day.  Why? A couple of reasons. One is that he always brought me the first Narcissus bloom around this time each year. As we reminisced about that, I told mom that I was sorry he didn’t bring them to […]

For as long as I can remember it’s been important for me to recognize and value the struggles of life.  To recognize that faith doesn’t mean ignoring pain and empty platitudes aren’t helpful when they make it seem like the “faithful” don’t suffer. To give voice to things that could make people feel different or […]

(This refers to a book my Dad loved called Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach) Sitting among giant cacti. Watching the sun set. The silence almost otherwordly. I hear some sort of bird flying by. It seems so out of place, as if it had lost its way in the world and ended up in […]

Sun – Moon Spring – Winter Day – Night Joy – Pain It’s all life. It’s all yours. It’s all good. There’s not one without the other. No power in love without the possibility of losing it… Someday…Someway… Even when it’s too early and even when it doesn’t make sense and everything seems like insanity. […]