cultivating the beautiful ordinary by sharing our tales and our tables
I was ten years old when I traveled with my mother, brother, and grandparents to Throckmorton, Texas, to spend a few days with my mother’s grandparents. We drove for three days from Ohio and stopped at tourist places along the way. Carlsbad Caverns astounded me. It was as if the “bigness” of the world was…
Read More
I remember sitting with my grandfather and grandmother when my sister and I spent Saturday nights at their home. My grandparents were kind to us and I loved being with them. Sixty-five years later I hold these memories dear. The elderly seem solid and stable. I am elderly now and I know that is not…
Read More
I heard the tires on the gravel driveway and called Dan to hurry! We rushed out the door and we greeted four year-old Grace and I swiftly rushed to the other side of the car and unbuckled five-week old Parker Anne for the first time! I gently held her in my arms and helped Grace…
Read More
I married a man who often has a swirl of controversy about him. It seemed like a good fit because I was the skinny girl on the playground who faced down big six graders for being unkind to the brown third grader from India. If someone made fun of the wheelchair bound child with hydrocephalus…
Read More
An unexpected shift At first so shocking, So unsettling, So off-center.
Read More
Holy ground, where are you now? The place Jesus stood before the High Priest… Do you still remember?
Read More
I sometimes want to be a tree. I want to blow in the breeze, feel the rain on my branches, shelter birds and squirrels, and grow roots deep and wide so that I am strong and resilient to whatever might want to take me down. I want to bend and grow without to-do lists and…
Read More
I just woke up early in my daughter’s home. There are no sounds of our freshly born granddaughter, Parker, or her mother or father. I hope they are all sleeping. Dan is deep in the twitching dreams of REM. It is the quiet time of memory. Parker is safe, sound, and already greatly loved. Today…
Read More
My husband says to our children, “If I disappear, look for me in a Goodwill store!” His fear stems from the reality that I have been emptying our home of a lifetime of purchases since 2006. I take great pleasure in getting rid of things we don’t need. I still need Dan, so he is safe.
Read More
I have always loved the wise men. As a young child, it was my favorite part of the Christmas Eve pageant in our beautiful church. I don’t think it had anything to do with my mother having sewn the costumes and created their crowns from her costume jewelry, but it might have. The sanctuary seemed…
Read More