He had always told us about growing up in half a house, but it wasn’t until last week that I saw this picture of it. Grandma is standing in front of it there –wearing a pink sundress that she undoubtedly sewed for herself. With no indoor plumbing and quilts for an exterior door, it…
That man of mine came from behind and wrapped his arms around me in the kitchen last night. Prayed right in my ear that God would help me write this blog post. Romance. Right there. And just before he said his amen, I said, And pray my words will be cheerful. He prayed just that….
It’s June, but I’m working feverishly to be more prepared for next year’s Spanish classes, so I was looking up vocabulary that had to do with Thanksgiving. Made myself hungry –turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy. Doesn’t help that I’m writing this blog post at 5:12 p.m. To the vocab list I added the Spanish words for…
There is a wonderful quiet that happens after the 3:00 bell, when I sit at my desk grading papers. A few days ago I had the windows open, and during that half an hour after school I smelled the rain and heard sheep bleating from the vo-ag field across the way. Maybe you’re a country…
It is the lead apron the dental hygienist puts on me before she takes x-rays of my teeth. Heavy, this grief I wear now. I feel the weight of it every morning when I wake up and try to get out of bed –sadness at the loss of my dad and over all the veins…
I went to my calculator, and it figures to be over a thousand dollars –the total amount of money my dad had paid my kids when they got A’s. $20 for straight A’s, and they had to be perfectly straight, or $1 for every A. My daughter graduated summa cum laude a few years ago,…
In 24 hours there was… One side of the bed still warm after my man left it –a place for me to slide my cold feet. One leg hug from a 3-year-old nephew, followed by a long and one-sided conversation, most of which I could not understand. One lanky teenage boy playing electric guitar on…
On Monday I dragged myself to school with a purse pocket full of Ricola Cough Drops. (Matt calls them “kräuter-zuckers”, with a supposedly Swedish accent.) I had nursed a sore throat all day Sunday and wondered how I would have the energy to teach on Monday afternoon. Then I got to school and had forgotten…
My parents have a massive bedroom that runs the length of their garage, ending in a large bay window that lets in the light. It’s a large and inviting space for us to gather and open Christmas presents. This room is also where my nieces sleep on pallets laid out on the floor at night…
We went 20 days “sin quejas”, which means without complaints. I even put a sign on the wall. You know, like the sign at Costco that says “120 days since the last injury”. And we added the days out loud together, until we rejoiced at 16, 17, 18, 19. So I kept my promise and…
I wanted to honeymoon there 22 years ago, but it wasn’t feasible. Now we were finally on our way to Banff. And it was socked in. That’s Montana talk for mountains covered in clouds. Fog touching the windshield. For two hours we drove and tried to enjoy what little scenery we could make out. Matt…
I used to lay on my mom’s bed and try to peak into her closet when she was getting her clothes out for the day, because there were a few little shelves up high where she kept future gifts. She would keep her eyes open while shopping, and if she saw something on sale that looked…
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