A Christmas Lightbulb Moment
I’ve been dragging my heels and hanging onto November with my fingernails – doing everything in my power not to face December, but here it is. November gave me the slip on Friday and on Saturday my family pushed me into the festive season like a kid tossed into the deep end of the pool […]
Where I’m At
I still have maudlin moments, moments when I let memory walk me back into that sterile hospital room where I indulge my grief and relive the hours just before he passed away. I place myself in the middle of the nightmare – the dark center where the air is thick with fear. Back to when […]
Apples and sauce
Our eldest granddaughter is eight years old. Every September, for as far back as her memory can take her, she and her Papa have made applesauce with the apples harvested from the tree in our backyard. It has been a tradition, a date they both looked forward to all summer as they watched the apples […]
A Tale of Two Elvas
My grandmother was fifty-four when my grandfather died. His was a sudden and unexpected death. He left behind a grieving widow and six devastated children. My mother used to share details of that tragic event with my brother and sisters and I every September on the anniversary of her father’s passing – it was a […]
Footprints and the gift
Travel log — the beach Some things never change even as children grow up and grammas grow old. The beach – freedom, adventure, wild things. Magic. The wind breathes it and the surf echoes – magic. I have been drenched in magic. I have sand in my shoes and a smile on my face – […]
Excitement in the morning
I had to pull our family tooth fairy out of retirement last week. I’m not sure if she was excited or flustered to be summoned on short notice after twenty-five years of laurel sitting, but she answered the call. The fairy-ing business has gone high finance over the quarter century ours has been enjoying her […]
Meeting Max
My mind wanders while I’m walking my dogs. We take the same familiar route every day which makes it easy for me to fall into a thought and stay there while still putting on the miles. Sometimes I get lost in what I’m currently writing, sometimes I get lost in a memory and sometimes that […]
Paw Prints On My Heart — episode 9 — Spencer
It’s hard to talk about Spencer without first being reminded of his untimely loss. I will get this out of the way quickly so I can get on with his story. Spencer was the only dog we ever lost on the road – it was devastating. I don’t think any of us are really over […]
Paw Prints On My Heart — episode 8 — Cowboy
Just typing his name makes my heart skip a beat. I believe I have loved every dog in my life with 100 percent of my heart, but Cowboy will always be remembered as the dog of my life. He was the dog who chose me. It was like he had been born with me in […]
Paw Prints On My Heart — episode 7 — Yeller
Yeller was the first family dog of our next generation. The family chose him, the family loved him and the mom looked after him. It’s true what they say about Labs – they make a great family dog, but there should be a disclaimer: when they stay home. Yeller was a darling, a perfect calendar […]