Yesterday I had the privilege of interviewing a 16-year-old, organ donation recipient, along side her mother.   The entire conversation was beyond moving but when she began to tell me about the organ donor’s passing, I became paralytically speechless.  The tears had already been flowing but when I learned the organ donor was a young, 14-year-old … Continue reading On Birthdays and Guardian Angels…

3,285 days. 78,840 hours. 4,730,400 minutes. 283,824,000 seconds. This is how long I’ve been her mother.  This is how long I’ve held her, kissed her soft cheeks and smelled the fragrance of God on her skin. I’d no idea when she was plucked from the heavenlies and placed in my belly, the birthing that would … Continue reading How Nightbirde and Night Beauty Saved Me: Darkness Will Never Prevail

Face-down with soggy cheeks plastered across my cold granite counter-top.   That’s how I found myself in the fall of 2015, just shortly after Chad’s brain surgery and three months before we figured out who the real culprit was hijacking his body. By this point we’d seen doctors for a solid year with no solid answers. … Continue reading A Ram in the Thicket

Yesterday morning as I was preparing my tea, I noticed this random tea-tab hanging out of a tea canister I wasn’t even using. Naturally, this enneagram four, tea-lover took extra-special notice  — reminding myself to look for ways to live righteously (rightly) and love all who came my way.  I went on with MY morning, … Continue reading A Wisdom Cocktail, Mixed Just The Way I Like

“I didn’t have expectations for this,” she said this morning as we awoke to a world with no electricity.  She’s eight and a planner and a world with sudden change sometimes leaves her feeling powerless...   “It’s good practice for life,” I told her.   “Good practice for when life hands you circumstance’s you simply cannot change.”  … Continue reading A Powerless State…Literally and Figuratively

“It’s hard to believe it’s all real”, she said as we finished reading the nativity story yesterday morning.   I don’t know about you, but I think it’s easy to understand why someone would have trouble believing the Messiah would come in the form of a baby, born in the filth and stench of a stable.   … Continue reading Manger Change

It was sign 9" x 6" sign gifted to me on what would have been his 45th birthday.  A sign stuck in the corner of a flower shop, waiting patiently to be purchased and laid in my hands. A sign purchased by someone who has helped me walk many a mile when I didn't want … Continue reading We’re All Just Walking Each Other Home

  ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Late winter. It can be my most difficult time. Before the new greens of spring and first blooms are born, comes the barren pallet of winter —a season desolate, dreary and dark. Because dark always comes before light.   It was late winter when we found out her daddy had ALS. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. Otherwise … Continue reading Dear World: What Wombs, Blooms and Tombs All Have in Common…

One month ago today, I awoke from a solid, uninterrupted, six hours of straight-through sleep-which almost NEVER happened. One month ago today, I awoke to the quiet hum of a non-invasive ventilator and no other sound was heard. No moans. No groans. No indication of discomfort in any way. This was not the norm. One month ago today, … Continue reading Dear World: What happened one month ago today…

Two trips to our favorite spot in less than a month. Both gifts. Both unforgettable. Both tears and tide drenching our shirt-tales the entire time. I sit solo on a deserted beach that day, watching as Hurricane Hermine tries to give us all a run for our money. Sitting awe-struck with eyes glued to sea, the roar … Continue reading Tears and Tide