Father’s Day – It’s Complicated

We love holidays around here. There’s usually so much light-heartedness and goodness and almost always – a reason for food.

But this week with the coming holiday, conversations and feels were different. Our team stood around in a circle trying to figure out how we’d celebrate Father’s Day on the blog and show love to the men who have helped shape our lives. We talked. And talked some more. Chats around the office were good; many of them heartwarming with sweet tales of stand-up dads and heroes and first loves. But others were… complicated.  Read more...

All That Glitters

Since we had promised a few decades earlier (during our rousing “vote-for-me-to-be-your-class-officer” speeches) to “be there” for our fellow classmates when the time came to plan our reunions—these officers-turned-attorneys and executives were now hopping on weekly conference calls to make all the arrangements: A special seating section at the Homecoming football game. A tour of the old high school. A Saturday night party on the floor of the famed “Spinning Wheels” skating rink where we had danced the Hokey Pokey on wheels at the end of the night. A web page to sell tickets. And a Facebook Group where we’d begin inviting our graduating class of 550 (we were the only high school in town) to engage, share stories and photos, and shake the trees to get as many people as possible to join us.  Read more...

Open Hearts

“The friends of your heart are not to be taken for granted
and should always be granted much more than they would take.”

I really hadn’t planned to get to know them very well. The circles of friendship I’d been investing in over the years were solid and full—I didn’t need to add any more friends. Plus, I might be moving across the country in a few months—so I told myself there really was no reason to forge new relationships, what with leaving town fairly soon and all.  Read more...


The Family Game

I’m always on the hunt for fun new games that will hold the attention of teens and pre-teens—especially during LOTS of family time with cousins and friends throughout the holidays. We were introduced to this gem a few years ago by a good friend and it’s been a favorite. When I share with people how fun it is, they immediately want to know how to play so they can introduce it to their friends and gatherings. Last Christmas season we played it countless times (with as few as 8 and as many as 25 people). It’s a winner! Here’s why:  Read more...

Coming Clean

A timely story that reminds me of a friend who said, “Inappropriate laughter is my favorite emotion.”

I remember the first time: I slipped my feet into the basin of warm water. In the dimmed glow…and the quiet…the immediate, uncomfortable rush of awkwardness and vulnerability flooded me. I worried if my feet smelled…if I had remembered to shave my legs…if this exercise in humility would end soon.  It really was almost too much to bear.  Read more...

5 Things I’ve Learned Since Prom

It’s prom season. Which means Facebook feeds are popping up with happy photos of dapper couples sporting color-coordinated dresses and cummerbunds, showcasing pretty flower wrist corsages. There’s hope and celebration in their smiles and a wistful “school-is-almost-over” delirium. My friends with prom-going teens are sharing that the make-up, hair, and nail appointments—plus tux rentals, elaborate prom invites, and dinner plans—are budget-busting and more complex than some weddings we remember. At the same time, the dresses are much more simple and streamlined than the fussy, ruffled peach taffeta affair I wore back in the day.  Read more...

Showers for Singles

At a recent wedding shower, while watching the bride-to-be open a tissue-stuffed box filled with her brightly-patterned dishes, I considered that she already has plates in her cupboard.  I was at her apartment recently for dinner and her plates were just fine. Yet here are lots of new ones.

She’s 34 and has lived on her own for quite some time, so owns many of the standard items she’s now receiving. When she really needed the gift shower was after her college graduation as she moved into an apartment.  Instead, she, like me, got pans from her mother’s cupboard (her mom’s wedding gifts, in fact), hand-me-down cooking utensils and old, chipped serving platters.  Read more...

Bless This House

While house blessings are a tradition in many religions, the idea was new to me when I moved into my first home and wanted somehow to mark the occasion and ask for God’s protection and peace. After talking to friends, researching the idea, and remembering a sermon about how Joshua walked the perimeter of his property and asked for God’s blessing (Joshua 24:15), I decided to do the same for my new home.

I discovered that Los Angeles pastors reported a rise in house blessings, especially following an earthquake or natural disaster. Although earthquakes weren’t much of a threat in my Texas town, I gathered a few friends and family and prepared a simple ceremony using Bible verses and hymns.  Read more...

The Quilts of Gee’s Bend

They’re mesmerizing—these quilts of Gee’s Bend.

Created by hand in a small rural community nestled into a curve in the Alabama River southwest of Selma, dozens and dozens of stunning covers were pieced by women who mostly share the same last name—after Mark Pettway who bought the Joseph Gee estate in 1850. Following the Civil War the freed slaves took the name Pettway, became tenant farmers for the Pettway family, and founded an all-black community nearly isolated from the surrounding world.

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