cultivating the beautiful ordinary by sharing our tales and our tables
“Stand tall when you say goodbye, my girl. No matter how much the end hurts, we hold our heads up high and let the tears anoint your honor.” I lift her chin up, but her eyes refuse to meet mine. I hold my gaze steady until she reluctantly meets my own. “Momma, I just had…
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“Did you see Tos’s FB post? So sad.” I looked down at my phone on the kitchen counter, my hands covered in marinating sauce for tonight’s dinner. We were hosting friends from out of town and in deep conversation, catching up while cooking together. I wouldn’t look at the Facebook post until well after midnight when I crawled into bed. My…
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Dinner or supper? I used the terms interchangeably most of my life until I was invited to an Epiphany dinner. The meal was elegant and intentionally derived to mark what the prior year had held for each dinner guest. Epiphany is the season in the church calendar when we feast to celebrate the wise men’s…
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I remember my grandma‘s white lace curtains hanging over the windows in her bedroom. I would stare at them with tear-stained eyes as I sat on her bed, telling her of my sorrows and loss. It didn’t matter if I was 8 or 38 years old; she would listen compassionately and then touch my shoulder…
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“I can see it’s difficult for you to take a deep breath,” said my massage therapist as I attune to the calming scent of the lavender essential oil diffusing from her office. I notice my shallow breathing and the tenuous task of attempting to breathe through my diaphragm. My nervous system stays on guard, scanning…
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My mother-in-law’s phone call appears on my screen on average five times a day. Ever since we moved her to a memory care facility, she has called begging to be transferred back to her home. My heart breaks to know that her progressing dementia will never allow her to live in her own home again.…
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A few years ago, my father posted a Facebook post telling the cyber world that he had met the last love of his life. He explained that he had been allowed to love five women over his lifetime, and this woman was the last of his great loves. I remember staring at the confession on…
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Sound Trauma Therapy: As in other forms of somatic psychotherapy that attend to the psyche (mind) and soma (body), sound healing sends sound vibrations into the body to target areas of pain, stress, and tension, or trauma. I throw another Epsom salt square into the filling bathtub. She told me to bathe in good salt…
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“This is so amazing that we go to a church like this,” my husband whispered, as he slid a few papers stapled together across the table to me. I had just settled the kids into Godly Play and snuck into the service, and I was surprised to see the words printed across the top of…
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“He is gone.” My sister’s text startles me, and I sit up in bed. At first, I am confused and think she means her son is at school so that we can talk. I call her, and I know she is not okay from her voice. I realize she meant her son is missing. My…
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