I went to bed Saturday night filled with grief for my Fargo. I say “my Fargo” because after living there for ten years and having two babies in its hospitals, it became mine.
I began getting updates online when the peaceful protest turned violent. My heart ached for the downtown shop owners who waited to see if the front windows ... Read More
Every once in a while we get a wake-up call reminding us to pay attention. Sometimes it’s big, like five years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer. Sometimes it’s small, like the email I got from my friend, Galo, in California.
Galo sent me the link of a teacher reading a book to the graduating class ... Read More
My mornings have taken on a predictable and comforting cadence since the start of COVID19.
Every morning I shuffle out to the living room couch that sits in front of a big picture window. I love having my coffee and talking with God and looking at the changes Mother Nature continues to unveil each day. It’s amazing to watch a ... Read More
When people who want to write a book or start a blog come to me for advice, I always tell them the same thing: sit down.
Sit down at your computer or sit down with your favorite notebook, even when you have nothing to say.
Just sit down and wait.
I tell them to give themselves 15 minutes of quiet ... Read More
I’ve been spending lots of time in the corn field lately.
Aberdeen is a unique community in the way town and country sort of blend into one. I live in a mature neighborhood next to a major cross street, yet two blocks away I have my corn field.
Well, it’s not MY cornfield. I’ve just sort of claimed it. It’s been ... Read More
Imagine a woman who runs an Instagram account about adding beauty to our homes.
She posts the most amazing photos of fresh-cut flowers on her counter, positioned just so to create a breezy elegance. The idea is to teach us how to create simple charm in our own kitchens.
She posts lovely Easter portraits of her perfectly coiffed children, not to brag, ... Read More
Today, I’m going to do a very scary thing.
I am going to limit my 9 year old’s time on his electronic devices. Terrifying, right?
There will be step-by-step levels of trauma.
We have a big calendar on the wall of our kitchen. On a normal April, it is filled. Every single day has something written on it. Baseball games, track practices, Mom’s speaking events, Dad’s recruiting trips — every day is spoken for.
When school was cancelled in March, my youngest son, Ben, took a marker and crossed everything out and wrote ... Read More
Have you seen the #WeRemember video from @TheSocialCoUK? If you do nothing else today… no shower, no making of the bed, no brushing of the teeth… do this one thing. Watch the video.
https://www.facebook.com/TheSocialCoUK/videos/3653942478011904/
It so perfectly lays out the beauty we will see on the other side of this crisis.
Kindness is unfolding before our very eyes. There are neighbors checking ... Read More
“There is a miracle on the other side of this mountain.”
I was doing a video chat with a friend and her words awoke the hope inside me. She said it’s her daily mantra. It’s the place she parks her brain when her brain wants to idle in the land of what-ifs.
She heard those words from another friend who saw ... Read More
