Shelly D Templin

There used to be a house on one of the busiest streets in my town. It was a modest, one story house. A house where two people raised three children. When the children were grown and the street became too busy, the couple sold the house and the lot it was on and moved to a quieter neighborhood. I didn’t meet the couple until they had moved into the new house but when my husband and I passed the old house, he pointed it out and said, “That’s where Hugo and Alice used to live.” A few days Keep Reading...

I went Black Friday shopping once. Once. Once was enough for me. It’s been years since that early morning craziness and I think I have finally recovered from the trauma. I had never heard of Black Friday until a friend told me how excited she was about “mapping out” the stores she and her sister would hit in the wee hours. She explained how, after the turkey was consumed and everyone was in their turkey coma, she and her sister would gather all of the sales ads from that day’s paper and Keep Reading...

Interruptions Life is full of interruptions.  Maybe they are little interruptions like last week’s. Last week, I was sitting on my back porch enjoying a cool fall morning with a cup of coffee and a phone conversation with a friend. All of a sudden, a bird flew onto the patio.  The dogs jumped up and chased the bird. The frantic bird flew into my open bedroom door! The frantic dogs chased the bird. My frantic self repeated, “Oh, no! Oh, no! The bird is in my bedroom!” My longtime Keep Reading...

If being social were an Olympic sport, my oldest daughter would be a gold medalist. In fact, she would give Michael Phelps a run (or should I say, swim) for his money in the gold medal race. We should have named her “Social” because it is who she is. She loves her friends. She loves being around people. Most people have a bit of trepidation at the thought of starting high school. Not my oldest. She couldn’t wait to start – because it would mean she would be around people - her “peeps” as she Keep Reading...