My eighty-seven-year-old parents recently celebrated 65 years of marriage and 73 years together. They started dating when they were thirteen and haven’t stopped since. Dad gives Mom flowers every week—which wasn’t easy during the pandemic when he had to rely on others to pick out pretty flowers with their online grocery order. He tells her daily how pretty she is. They pray every night when they get in bed. Two years ago, my parents moved to Texas at their children's insistence – leaving behind Keep Reading...
Don’t Forget to Have Fun!
Don’t forget to have fun! Seems easy enough. I have the cutest little grand-girl who is an explosion of emotion, laughter, and silly dances. She is fearless when she “cowabungas” into the pool. But she has hated boating, and that is extremely unfortunate because we are a “boating family.” This little grand-girl has cried for the past several years every time we say we are going boating. She doesn’t like loud noises or bumpy boat rides. Until this summer! The first time we planned to take Keep Reading...
It’s a Wonder!
It’s a wonder! We got a new mattress today after I don’t know how many years. Mattress shopping made me wonder how in the world my husband and I have managed to share the same bed for our 36 years of marriage. In the early days we were so poor, we didn’t have a lot of options. His dad bought our first bed – a waterbed. They were all the rage back then and if you had one, you know why our generation is marked by fortitude and success. There was no such thing as ordering a bed online, waiting Keep Reading...
Grateful for the Flood
I’m so grateful for the flood! Not the Noah’s Ark flood - though I should be grateful God chose to save mankind and the animals He created. But that’s not the flood I’m referring to. I’m grateful for the flood we had for about four straight years in the house where I grew up. Specifically, in my bedroom, my sister’s bedroom and our shared bathroom. Now that I think about it, the boys’ rooms never flooded and they never had their rooms torn up. Wait, that’s probably an issue to discuss with a Keep Reading...
I Went on a Cruise and Ended up on the Dance Floor
Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I didn’t know a lot of people who went on Caribbean cruises but when I moved to the Houston area it seemed like everyone “cruised.” I added “Take Alaskan Cruise” to my bucket list. I suggested to two friends and their husbands that we should cruise to Alaska for our 5thwedding anniversaries. I suggested an anniversary trip because I thought it was more likely to happen then just saying, “Let’s go for no reason.” Everyone was in. Then reality hit. At Keep Reading...
This Too Shall Pass
I was sitting in a meeting last week and others gathered around the conference table kept looking at their phones. After a few minutes someone said, “We should wrap this up because hail and very strong winds are heading our way. We have 20 minutes to get home to safety.” People started gathering their belongings and packing up their bags. Before I could say, “Meeting adjourned,” chairs were being pushed in and lights shut off as people started dashing for their cars. In Texas, when you hear Keep Reading...
My “Not Word” for 2023
While others are posting about their word for the year, I have determined my "not word" for 2023. Hear me loud and clear – I have absolutely NO problem with people having a word that is their focus for the year. I love the idea and fully support it! Unlike those who pick a focus word every year, I don’t pick a "not word" every year. In fact, I have only done it once – in 2019. My "not word" that year was Busy and you can read about it here if you want. Back to my "not word" for 2023. It is Keep Reading...
A Sticky Mess
Hey! Remember me? It’s been about four months so you may have forgotten. When I started my blog, oh so many years ago, it was called Chuckles in the Chaos. I said I would only post about once a week. Well, the past few months have been filled with chaos. Some of it I cried about but some of it gave me reason to chuckle. There wasn’t time to write about it or even to figure out what message I wanted to relay. A writer friend of mine who saw the tears and heard the chuckles encouraged me to make Keep Reading...
I’m Rooted and Planted – or Am I?
“Bloom where you are planted” was cross-stitched into a picture and hung in my Gram’s kitchen. My family laughed about it because she wasn’t planted anywhere long enough to bloom. She flipped houses before flipping houses was cool. My grandfather was a true traveling salesman and more than once he returned home on a Friday evening to find a For Salesign in his yard. I thought it was fun to visit a new home nearly every time I visited her and though I have many of her characteristics that is Keep Reading...
Searching for Sand Dollars
I can’t believe I haven’t told him before now. I’ve known him for 37 years and haven’t told him a very pivotal story in my life. A turning point. A tipping point. I’ve shared a bed with him for nearly 35 years but I never told him the story until this week. If you haven’t guessed, who “he” is, it’s my hubby. And this week he heard the story. This week we were sitting on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean enjoying some pre work trip together time when I decided to take a nighttime stroll along Keep Reading...