Be a Super Hero
My BFF celebrated my birthday in her delightfully unorthodox style. She snuck over to my house at midnight with a crockpot of roast and veggies and plugged it in on my back porch. And then she taped silly pictures to my plate glass doors and left cards and gifts. That’s plural. Over the years Red and I have adopted a more is more approach to
The Blessed Seal of Approval
Last week we chatted about some of the unusual things I’ve discovered about aging. (Side note: it’s been suggested that I use the phrasing “as I mature”, but I’m not sure they’re one and the same. So there’s that.) But, back to my discoveries. Some of my findings are probably universal but I suspect that not all of them are, like my increasing tendency to let
Let God Take the Sting Out
My father’s mother starting dipping snuff as a five-year-old growing up in the hills of Kentucky. Papa likes to say, “People always said it’d kill her and they were right. When she was ninety-four years old, it finally caught up with her.” Grandma’s little brown jar of snuff was multi-purpose. When we grandkids got stung by a bee or a wasp, Grandma would treat the spot
Trust God with the Rewrites
I'll never forget the day I opened a twelve page editorial letter addressing the structure of my latest manuscript. That detailed missive by my sweet editor concerned my third work in progress from a major publisher and it left me wanting to walk straight off the end of our dock. It was easily the most substantive content edit I'd received to date. My anxiety increased
Jesus In Our Crib
It was the middle of another sleepless night in a long line of sleepless nights and my daughter-in-law had one leg hoisted over the side of Weston the Wonder Boy baby bed when common sense prevailed. Carey conceded to herself that as much as she wanted to console her boy, the two of them simply weren’t going to fit in the close quarters. It should
The Joy of Walking with a Forever Limp
"Strut over here and you'll be limping back." I was probably in junior high the first time I heard that zinger, but no one had to translate it for me. I instinctively understood those were throw down words, meant to inform the person who was brewing for a fight that the speaker was fully prepared to do battle. I like to give credit where credit's due,
Water for Thirsting Souls
I just downed a water bottle in one long gulp. It surprised me when the plastic caved in on itself. I didn't realize I was so thirsty until I started guzzling. And that, of course, reminded me of a story. Our son and daughter were gifted athletes. That's not an empty mama brag. The two of them excelled in a number of high school sports. There
Are You Wearing a Mask?
There's a collage of pictures on my phone that makes me laugh every time I see it. Three little hams and one big one are depicted wearing identical paper masks, the kind that anchors around your head with an elasticized band. The little hams would be the three Lake Providence grands. The big one, well, I'll give you three guesses and the first two don't
Cousin Steve and The Great Butter Incident
I recently bought a simple white butter dish that reminds me of a story from long ago. I was young, six maybe and perched at the breakfast table in my Uncle Bryon and Aunt Elaine's house, along with my cousins and sisters. We were about to eat biscuits, or was it pancakes? Some of the details are vague. Others are as vivid in my mind
Sue Me, I Fidget
As long as I can remember people have been telling me to “get still”. If I wasn’t wiggling too much in church, I was squirming too much in class. So, I fidget. (I was about to say “sue me” but I stopped myself. Someone might decide to take me up on it and who knows where that could go. We’ve all seen those strange but
