I slipped my hand into my husband’s and whispered, “You don’t need to say anything. Just stand here with me. I’m scared.”
He knew exactly what I was talking about. Despite being in a gym crowded with youthful basketball players and their excited parents and grandparents, it felt like it was just the two of us. A united front. Ready to ... Read More
Being lost is such a scary feeling.
I remember being lost in the hilly one-way streets of Athens, Ohio a few days after we had moved to town. The panic started to rise in my throat until it reached my eyes and flowed out as tears. I pulled over and called my husband at work. Repeatedly. Until he finally answered.
His voice ... Read More
From the time I was about 10 years old I can recall seasons where a sense of hopelessness would follow me through the morning.
It was the oddest thing. Some days I would wake up and there it would be, sitting in the corner like a cloak insisting on being worn. I couldn’t leave my room without it. Other mornings, it ... Read More
A year ago we were living in a home filled with uncertainty. My husband’s basketball season was coming to a close and we were unsure what the next few months would bring.
While we thought there would be two more years to build the team, we could hear faint voices yelling from the sidelines, “Off with his head!”
Social media is ... Read More
What’s on your mind? Are you excited about the possibilities of this new year? Or are you feeling like you need fewer problems and more solutions?
I’ll be honest, I spent a good part of Christmas break seeing the world’s problems and trying (unsuccessfully) to be the solution.
The harder I tried to be the answer, the trickier the questions ... Read More
Are you flipping out about life right now? You may be happy to know you’re not alone. I have some teacher friends who will tell you this time of year is wack-a-doodle. Frazzled nerves, to-do lists up the wazoo, and a strange combination of melancholy and glee.
Next, we have the parents who are planning graduation parties for their high school ... Read More
When it comes to inviting people into my home, I need to get over myself, how about you? This week on The Kindness Podcast, I talk with Sue Donaldson, an expert on hospitality.
Sue obviously didn’t say, “Hey, Nic, you need to get over yourself,” but she did remind me that hospitality and humility go hand in hand. As Sue says, ... Read More
I know when the dark clouds are going to roll in… it happens at the beginning of every basketball season and it happens again at the end. I used to really fear it. I would feel the heaviness creep in on my body and I would wonder if this was the time it would get me, if this was the ... Read More
“Stress fatigue. Ever had it? Ever heard of it? Is it normal to want to sleep all the time?”
I was having coffee with a few precious women yesterday when one of them posed those questions.
The weight of the world can rest on the shoulders of a parent. When that parent is also holding down a job or caring for another ... Read More
I had just one question for the doctor: Is this normal?
I’ve been cancer-free for two years, but I still go to The James every three months for a check-up. Yesterday was the day.
I sat in the white, sterile exam room in a chair eye-level with my medical oncologist. Everything in the room looked clinical and uncaring, except for her eyes.
Her ... Read More
