cultivating the beautiful ordinary by sharing our tales and our tables
With a plastered-on smile, I faced a rowdy class of Chinese preschoolers and reached down to the tips of my toes to muster up my maximum volume: “If you’re happy and you know it…” I clapped my hands. I stomped my feet. And I turned myself around. “That’s what it’s all about, hey?” But those…
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I remember the day I first met my neighbor. As I strolled down the street, she greeted me with a warm smile, and we struck up a conversation. Little did I know that this chance encounter would blossom into a close friendship. Her family had been a part of the neighborhood for quite some time,…
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There is a photo I love that my daughter took on a southern beach several years ago. Brown curls float around my freckled face in the sea breeze. Sitting in the sand and gazing toward the horizon, I watch salmon and burgundy-colored clouds float to position for the sunset. Golden hour lights fine lines and…
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My heart felt heavy. My lungs felt empty. My mind couldn’t form a coherent thought. The loss was more than I had ever known. The hurt resonated deep within my soul.
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There I sat. Alone. Silent. And in pain. During my seven-year marriage, I encountered other couples who had divorced and often wondered, “Why didn’t they try harder? Why didn’t they keep the marriage together at all costs? I just don’t understand.” But, now, on the other side of marriage and trying to pick up the pieces,…
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I walked through the grocery store, loading my cart as if it were a normal day. The white paper cup in the cart cup holder was stained with dribbles of coffee that had seeped from underneath the white plastic lid. Ruby lipstick residue garishly proclaimed the cup mine. I had just set it down when…
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Finally the day had arrived!
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She was so young, so naïve. Face smooth, laugh lines just beginning to form, and eyes pooling with tears as she wondered, “what shall I do?” Her good friend, Fear convinced her that no matter what she did, she would as easily be wrong as right. It might have been a parenting decision or the…
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It was a Saturday like any other in San Antonio, Texas — a beautiful, blustery October morning in 2007, the perfect day for our family outing at the zoo — until I discovered a secret so painful, I nearly collapsed. D-Day, I called it. Discovery Day. The day I discovered my husband was leading a…
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I’m getting divorced. Three simple words. Three simple words that don’t convey the pain and messiness of this season. Three simple words that don’t feel real. Three simple words that represent an impossibly complicated emotional state of being.
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