Gratitude

Watching Leaves

We had been watching the leaves turn for the last few weeks and the day arrived when the blanket of burnt orange and muted red covered our front yard. My sons are still young and I did not know how they would respond to the task ahead. We began raking together, and to my great excitement, the colorful, crunchy, piles…

Immense and Deep Gratitude

Following last year’s knee surgery (and the liver tumor the year before, and the 11 concussions before that, and the two knee surgeries before that) this past summer I once again embarked on trying to return to being the distance runner I used to be. To give you a sense of the starting point: for about a month I was restricted to jogging for 1 minute,

The Beauty in a Name

There is something about another person saying, remembering, or knowing our name that makes us feel seen and loved. I have always loved my name, but only in the past year have I become aware of the impact of hearing and seeing my name. I work as a director of preschool. At the preschool level, all of the staff members are called by Mr. or Ms. followed by their…

Split-Second Family

My husband and I are a fairly young couple with (God-willing) many years ahead of us so we do hope to have children of our own one day. My relatives, however, have a medical history of difficulty in carrying babies to term so my husband and I have always held the gift of children with an open hand. Our hearts are light in this regard, I think, because our days are filled with many godchildren and spiritual little siblings, in whom I take great delight and (behind his quiet reserve) I know my husband does too.