Can You Be The Friend With No Answers?

My phone rang late one evening.  Seeing it was my young friend, I answered with a smile in my voice “Good evening, Bridgett.” (not her real name.) A small voice, said “Do you have time to talk? Hearing “Of course,” the small voice became even smaller as the “little girl” inside my very grown up…

On Saying Goodbye to a Son Who Lives Far Away

rounding a curve on Rt. 205 the air traffic control tower looms above the horizon on the way to Portland International Airport (PDX), home of the iconic teal  blue carpet (or is it teal green) where we take pictures of our feet the carpet that says “we’re home” or “we’re leaving. today we are leaving….

There’s a Hole In My Bucket (List)

I entered the second half of life with a sturdy bucket load of dreams, brimming with possibilities. In addition, that bucket held the resources I’d need in order to make them happen“things I thought I would do, who I thought I would become, places to which I would travel. Besides the writing classes and conferences…

Pieces of My Heart

If you have been reading for awhile here, you know I occasionally reference things my grandchildren have taught me. I find they are in the background of my mind most of my days. It’s no surprise when I sit down to be quiet, what is in the background comes to the fore. Today when I…

Giving Voice to my Grief through Writing

  I dabbled at writing a diary in high school, but that diary disappeared along with the one I started my first  year in college – the one where I carefully noted every interaction with any boy down to the detail of what was said and done so that someday I could return to said…

From Uninvited Guest to Friend

Oh, Hello Grief. Here you are, a little early. Tomorrow would have been my brother’s 56th birthday“ another bittersweet day to celebrate without him. This will be the seventh time since he lost his way in his beloved Montana Mountains and died of hypothermia. I was hoping you wouldn’t show up this year. That’s the…

Jesus has you. Everyday. Always

Jesus, I was hoping you would have something for me here at the beach today. You often do when I take time to look up, look down, look around, but I didn’t do a lot of that kind of looking today. While I found myself restless in my body, there still was a peacefulness of mind…

What Beach Glass Is Saying to Me

Sea glass, also called beach glass, is any glass that has eventually found its way to a body of water that has a sufficient combination of surf, sand, and stone to naturally tumble, smooth, and frost the shard into a genuine gem.” Sea Glass Journal.   While sea glass is processed by the salt water…

Finding God in the Goodwill Women’s Bin

Last week I posted at ThePerennialGen.com- sharing how I found God’s provision in the least expected and the most unlikely of places.  He does things like that. I was sitting in my chair mending the lace insets in my bras because I could not afford to buy new ones. Without warning, I burst into tears…

A Prayer for Those in the Second Half of Life

Last Saturday, I was asked to write and give an invocation at the  PerennialGen Workshop in Wheaton, ILwith the theme, “Growing Sage (wise) in the Second Half of Life”. Perhaps you will relate to this prayer I prayed for all of us there that morning. Oh, God, our  help in ages past All the ages…