Ah, spring! Who doesn’t love the vibrant greens, multi-hued blooms, and ever-increasing warmth of spring? Following the drabness and coldness of winter, spring is a gift. Spring is all about renewal, hope, color, forward motion, and promise. Renewal The last few years have felt like a long winter filled with pandemic, civil unrest, and, most […]
When Life Hands You a Cluster of Difficulty
In my search for tomatoes that taste like the kind my father used to grow in the backyard, I discovered the ones that come closest are what the grocery store labels “cluster tomatoes,” the kind with the vine still attached. Sometimes, strange things, like cluster tomatoes, speak to me about life. As I unloaded groceries, […]
Thanksgiving Year-Round
Last week, our family gathered to celebrate the life of an amazing woman. Technically, she was my cousin-in-law, but I thought of her as blood kin because she was like us. Any time you were with her you felt special. Her laughter and smile were contagious. She was a great storyteller, but more than that, […]
5 Strategies to Reboot Determination and Complete Goals
As I watched a football game with my husband last weekend, I suddenly realized it was the fourth quarter with not much time remaining. The score was lopsided (thankfully in favor of my husband’s alma mater), and there was seemingly no way the other team could catch up. As it turned out, they weren’t able […]
When Looking Back is a Catalyst for Moving Forward
My father was born January 19, 1919, during the Spanish flu pandemic that claimed over 500,000 lives. A few days following his birth, my father, and his mother, contracted flu. Both were extremely ill, but survived. My grandmother had two children before daddy’s birth and six more children after. My grandfather, father, and his two […]
The Transforming Power of Snow
Here in the south, we get pretty excited about a snow forecast. One little mention of the S-word is guaranteed to clean out grocery store aisles, cause a run on hardware stores, and generally send people racing around in full-tilt prep mode, even if the forecast is only for a light dusting of the white […]