Would you believe what happened this morning? Nothing. I slept ELEVEN hours last night. And when I woke up, the house was still standing. My people were all okay. The world didn’t stop turning. Nothing happened. Sometimes, we need rest. Sometimes, we need a lot of rest. And sometimes, we can’t pinpoint a reason “why.” I struggle to accept this. Somewhere down the line I bought into a lie that says needing rest is a sign of weakness. Where did that come from? I don’t even know. But accordingly to the lie, it’s only acceptable to rest if you have a legitimate reason, like exercising too hard, re ..read more

I laughed out loud at a meme a friend posted today detailing how Austria’s airport has an entire help desk dedicated to travelers who land in Austria thinking they were flying to Australia. Apparently so many people make this mistake, they need personnel on hand 24/7 to handle them! While I was laughing at the outrageousness of the situation, I remembered the geography mistake I myself made just last night. My husband and I were watching a scene from a movie that took place in the General Assembly room at the United Nations. As the character leaned on one of the country’s desks, I noticed the ..read more

This morning, I took my dog, Lucky, to the vet. He didn’t want to get in the car to leave. He came to the car door, sniffed, and high-tailed it back to the door of the house. Normally, he is all tail wags and happy jumps about car trips, so his behavior baffled me … at first. I realized I haven’t taken Lucky on any “fun” car excursions in quite a while … only trips to the groomer and the vet. No wonder he didn’t want to come with me! I started thinking about myself and my own lack of enjoyment and “get up and go” lately. I didn’t want to get out of bed today, and it took me a long time to actu ..read more

Hello, August. You bring your usual anxiety and stress of athletic team tryouts, back to school necessities like shopping, meetings, and events, intolerable heat, early morning alarms, and life-long recurring nightmares about missing college class for an entire semester minus the first week and then having to sit for the final exam. You’re not my favorite month. Not by far. August, with your new beginnings, makes the controller in me rear up in a mighty way. Your unknown makes me uneasy, August. So, if I pray hard enough for what I want … if I plan far enough in advance … if I’m uber organized ..read more

I tip-toed out the front door of the house to take a phone call so I wouldn’t wake my napping teen in the family room. She’s recovering from surgery. I’d just caught a bowl-full of her vomit and reapplied ice packs to her incision sites. A moment in the sunshine, breeze, and green grass would serve as a welcome respite, regardless of the duration. I spoke briefly with an irate plumber on the other end of the phone line, who was upset that my husband forgot to cancel the appointment to have them fix the water leak in the garage. While putting out that little fire, the general contractor (who is ..read more

It’s been a hard week. Situations arose involving finances, marriage, and parenting that left me feeling entirely clueless. And the still-recovering people-pleasing, over-achieving perfectionist in me does.not.like.feeling.dumb! But that’s exactly where I found myself on multiple days this week: confused, stumped, not knowing which way to turn or how to proceed. I stumbled across the social media post in the box below by She Rises. I cannot tell you how much it comforted and reassured me. I turned to God. I’m still wrestling in prayer. To tell you the truth? I don’t have any answers yet. But ..read more

Life is a series of hellos and goodbyes, beginnings and endings. That statement has never felt truer than now, as I close out the year 2022 and open the year 2023. For me, 2022 was a year of both slow and sudden change. A year of bittersweet endings and expected beginnings. A year of traumatic loss and surprising rebirth. Mourning and celebrating. A year of confusion, turmoil, twisted emotions, gut-wracking sobs, anger and frustration, pleading, and broken hearts strewn about like shattered fragments of glass. And yet, there was also blessing. Gratitude. The warm embraces of family and a few ..read more

We really looked forward to this weekend … our first weekend in many weeks when there was nothing scheduled. Recently, we’d moved our oldest into a new apartment while she finishes college. We’d moved our middle child into her first dorm room at a different college. We’d gone to tennis tournaments while supporting our youngest child. We’d been deeply embroiled in grief and the business that surrounds a death in the immediate family. We’d been preparing for and enduring the growing pains and anxiety and busyness of going back to school, two out of three of which were new schools for our kids ..read more

I’m a super honest person. Lately, I’ve been struggling with feeling insincere when I casually run into people around town. I got downright nervous recently at the grocery store while waiting in line with my cart of items, anticipating the impending conversation. A typical, short greeting in a situation like this used to go something like “Hi! How are you?” To which I would reply, “I’m great! How are you?” And then we would carry on with casual conversation or other business. Similar encounters happen when running into friends in public places. I have to say though, these conversations are no ..read more

I had to retire my favorite pair of tennis shoes. For a tennis player, it’s a big deal. You see, the repetitive stops and starts on hard-court tennis surfaces wear and tear the soles of a player’s shoes. And if you play frequently, just about the time you get a pair of tennis shoes really comfortable and broken-in, you start to notice your feet sliding on the court more. Gone is the tell-tale squeak as you quickly move around the court. So, you check the bottom of your shoes and there it is … a smooth surface worn so thin it will render a gaping hole at any moment. I still like the old pair on ..read more