Today is our 33rd wedding anniversary. That seems like such a big number for a couple as "young" as we (sometimes) feel!

I am incredibly blessed to have a husband who is "one of the good guys." He's considerate, supportive, hard-working, and I never have to pick up after him - he's neater and more organized than I am!

We're not carbon copies of ( Read more... )

Is there such a thing as a new tradition? Hmm.

I have my shopping lists on excel spreadsheets. It may sound a bit over the top, but at a glance I know who I'm shopping for, what I've already bought, what I still need.  We do Christmas kinda big even though we're a small family. Big gifts for each of the boys need to match up in some way, either by ( Read more... )

Surly youth #1's car died on campus last evening. He called AAA. They sent a tow truck.

The tow truck driver said it might be the battery, so he'd have to put in a call for a battery specialist. Um... ok.

The battery truck got there and it wasn't the battery so, yeah... they had to put in a call for (drum roll, please) a tow truck.

The whole fiasco ( Read more... )

If we truly knew how to live in the moment, to be present in the now, there'd be no such thing as waiting. Waiting is when we use up now worrying about something that may or may not happen in the future, whether it's in minutes, hours, days, or even longer... waiting in line, to buy a house, to feel better, for an empty nest, to win the lottery... ( Read more... )

I don't know how to listen to music casually, offhandedly, as sound in the background. I prefer active listening, the attentive kind where you eventually know more than the words and the melody; something inside absorbs all the song's nuances- when the percussion kicks in, where the strings swell, how many notes the background horns play and if ( Read more... )

I'm supposed to be there. After all, this is family. We are distanced by blood as well as connection, but still, he was an uncle. As I drive to church for the funeral I am fairly certain that this will not be an emotional morning for me and I feel relief. Distance. Obligation.

A wave of chills, and another, then another, the hairs on my arms are ( Read more... )

A wonderful writer from the other site where I write posted an interesting challenge. It's from an on-line class she's taking through Stanford University. Here are the guidelines:

As in the movie this title refers to, we discover things visually in fragmentary form, and what we think we know or see and what someone else knows or sees and what we ( Read more... )

If you missed it and are interested, here's Chapter 1.

We made it past the point of our first son's premature birth, a monumental milestone for us during my second pregnancy. We were heading towards the home stretch confident and happy. We felt like we knew what to expect during childbirth this time around, since we were finally able to attend ( Read more... )

On March 16th, we'll celebrate our firstborn son's 23rd birthday. We're not sure of his official stats now, but he's at least 6'4" and weighs probably twice as much as I do... he's a big guy. There was a time when we monitored his weight gain daily, measuring it in fractions of ounces.

His was not an uneventful birth.

( Read more... )

We have a candy dish that I keep filled with little bits of goodness I like but am not inclined to over-eat until I reach the what-was-I-thinking, I'm-ready-to-puke stage. Smarties are one of my favorite non-chocolate candies so that's a common one. Sure, I buy a few things the kids like such as Air Heads and Sour Warheads. Oh, and mini tootsie ( Read more... )