I was scolded once by a professor for ending a presentation with the four honest words, “That’s all I have.” And I think this speaks something to my silence here over the past (eep) month or so. I’m imagining myself trailing you down the hallway repeating, “Well, what was I supposed to say?” It’s not […]
I know it’s hip to hate on millenials these days. And yet. Despite what all these experts on youth culture who don’t know me might say, I hope you believe me when I say that I just want to be responsible. And my friends feel the same way. As in, not entitled – but desperate […]
It is possible that we have acquired a chain saw. Josh’s dad let us truck-sit last week while he was out of town, and we filled the eight-foot bed fifteen times with brush from our quarter-acre wilderness. And then had a huge, wet, reluctant bonfire. It’s a good thing for the wilderness that my father-in-law returned when he did. […]
I may have detected a flaw in our western brand of Christian faith. Maybe you should sit down. I think that, if we expect God to work at all, we expect him to work instantly. We march to the orders of the clock, not to the rhythms of the seasons and sunsets and cows. We have no patience for God or for lines […]
I was a pushover of a child. I am a pushover of a grownup. But I’m growing. (Someday, I will be able to look someone in the eye and say of their outfit, rudeness, restaurant pick, musical taste, “I don’t like that.”) In the meantime . . . I have a tough little sister. She […]
My mother and I take a pilates class together on Fridays. (We seem drawn to making fools of ourselves.) Last week after class, while I gathered my things, my mom shared with our instructor that she had had the four of us kids pretty close together, and that now we’re 23, 22, 19, and – “my baby just turned 18.” […]
We knew that when we cleaned the attic we’d be encroaching upon the territory of winged things. When we finally did face our fears and clean the poo out of the two attic rooms, we were swarmed by no such creatures. We found zero bats. We found four birds (we think), and the only one living removed itself from the house without a […]
Answer: In the most complicated way possible. Mission: To remove the particle board floor from the poor, tortured 1938 hardwood. Solution 1 (beat wildly at it with a hammer) didn’t work. Enter engineer. Solution 2: 1. Try hammer. No workee? 2. No problem. Collect at least four shovels. Wedge them under crappy floor. 3. Beat […]
In the midst of good, hard, two-hands-to-the-plow living lately, I’ve run out of room in my days to talk about it. There’s a lot happening in me and my house. I may have to tackle this in baby chunks. We had some heart-breakingly beautiful work parties last week at the house. It was hard work. […]
It’s not my mother’s fault, but I don’t write thank you notes. Not really – not good ones. She did her best. I’m sure there were explanations along the lines of this person sacrificed money and time for you – and decent human beings write thank you notes – but the motivational speech I best […]
la corbeille 