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...
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...
Hail and Hope
Okay, my last blog post was a bit whiny but this one is not! I’m jumping on here to celebrate. The last time I entered this space, I was upset about losing the bid on a house we were trying to buy. Two days later, another house came on the market. I feared even getting my hopes up. So, I didn’t. I’ll save you the “trying to buy a house in this crazy market” woes and will just say we bought a house! A great house. An almost brand new house surrounded by woods full of deer and other 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...
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...
Surprise Harvest – Tomatoes and Souls
I have a hidden garden. The garden I plant veggies in every spring is on the side of my house I don’t see every day. During the spring when I am excited to see the plants sprout and produce, I make a habit of peeking around the corner. But by July in Texas the plants are scorched and my enthusiasm for checking on my plants has burned out so I don’t check on the garden very often – or at all. When I say I have a garden, you should know I pretty much grow salsa. I try to grow a lot of other Keep Reading...
A Good Summer Read
Recently a friend sent me a book she picked up at an airport. She told me it made her laugh out loud on the plane – embarrassing her husband. “Enjoy it. It’s a good summer read,” she said. What exactly is a “summer read?” A little googling informed me that “summer reads” are light so you can take them on vacation and not get caught up in the story in case you need to throw your book down and jump in the ocean waves or lake. What if I want to read a “light” book in the dead of winter while Keep Reading...
Is the Best Really Yet to Come?
I heard it again this weekend. “The best is yet to come!” Is it? Is “the best” really on the horizon? “The best is yet to come” has become a popular saying from the pulpit, a meme, a catchy catch phrase. It's meant to encourage. And maybe even to sell books. I'm all about encouraging people. I want people to look forward and not behind. I want them to look on the positive side of things. I like the flower - not the thorns. I like the half full glass - not the half empty glass. I like Keep Reading...
Sailing 2.0
“Sailing. Takes me away. To where I’ve always heard it could be. Just a dream and the wind to carry me. And soon I will be free.” When I heard Christopher Cross sing those lyrics as a young teen, I envisioned myself smoothly sailing with nothing but peace, sunshine and a cool breeze tickling my senses. During my last semester at Texas A&M University, I decided I would learn to sail. I needed six credit hours in order to graduate so I was enrolled in the first summer session. Keep Reading...