Tag: parenting
-
Valentine’s Day – Real. Raw. Broken. Beautiful.
So Valentine’s Day. Commercial holiday? Totally. But do I still love any excuse to shower some love on my kids and husband? Totally. Sometimes showering love in real life, doesn’t always look like it does in my head. Today was one of those days. Today showering love looked like me holding my son as he…
-
It All Began With a Game of Cards…
25 years ago today, the man who would become my husband sauntered into my life….and never left. We were 18 and in our first year of college – at different schools, in different states. I was a California girl studying in central New York. He was a Jersey boy studying in Massachusetts. Geographically, there was…
-
Hitting the Mute Button
I am my own worst critic. I know this about myself, and am constantly trying to quiet my inner critical voice. It’s a battle I have been waging with myself for as long as I can remember. Sometimes I’ll go long stretches keeping that inner critic completely silent. Other times, it feels like that inner…
-
October 10th…World Mental Health Day…Also My Son’s Birthday Eve
On this day in 2005, I was 37 weeks pregnant. It was one of those 90+ degree October days we sometimes get in Southern California, and when I entered the doctor’s office for a routine weekly checkup I can remember the receptionist asking me if I had walked up the stairs because I was apparently…
-
Love, Faith, and Anxiety
Maundy Thursday is the day that Christians commemorate the gathering of Jesus and his disciples for the Last Supper. Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum, meaning commandment, in reference to Jesus’ teachings about a new commandment. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one…
-
Choosing Grace
Should. That’s a trigger word for me. I know I use it with myself too much, but I make an extreme effort to not use with it other people. In my opinion, “should” feels critical or judgmental. It diminishes the possibility that there is more than one “right” way to do or be or feel.…
-
On the Bookshelf -Love That Boy: What Two Presidents, Eight Road Trips, and My Son Taught Me About a Parent’s Expectations by Ron Fournier
I am a voracious reader. I love words. I love stories. I love ideas. I love to escape into a good book. Some of what I read is for pure pleasure, some of what I read is to help me be better at my church job, some of what I read is to expand my understanding…
-
Trust and Life Preservers
Summer break is slowly rolling to a close. We’re not at the end yet (11 days to go if I were to count!), but we’re close enough that new backpacks, shoes and some clothes are ready and waiting for the first day back. It’s been a long summer. My son has been with me most of the time…
-
Life Lessons from Anne of Green Gables
I was scrolling through my Facebook feed yesterday morning and noticed that a friend from college had posted about Netflix airing a new original series based on the Anne of Green Gables books by L. M. Montgomery. I “liked” the post, and thought about how it was probably time to begin sharing one of my childhood…
-
Your Most Important Tools
I was able to do one of my most favorite things today – chaperone a class field trip. I was with my daughter’s 3rd grade class at a living history presentation about the daily lives of Native Americans. The educator giving the tour asked, “What was the most important tool the native people had?” My…
We're All A Little Broken 