This being the week leading up to Mother’s Day, I decided to spend it focusing on the mothers in my life. I only have one that I call my own, but there are several other mothers who matter to me. I started with a letter to my grandma, and then wrote one for my daughter.… Continue reading Open letter to my mom
Category: Faith
Open letter to my daughter, the mother-to-be
This being the week leading up to Mother’s Day, I decided to spend it focusing on the mothers in my life. I only have one that I call my own, but there are several other mothers who matter to me. Today’s letter is to my daughter, as she prepares to give birth to her first… Continue reading Open letter to my daughter, the mother-to-be
Open letter to my grandma
This being the week leading up to Mother’s Day, I decided to spend it focusing on the mothers in my life. I only have one that I call my own, but there are several other mothers who matter to me. I think it’s fitting to start at the tippy top, so today I’m honoring… Continue reading Open letter to my grandma
MY UNMARRIED DAUGHTER IS PREGNANT
I’ll probably never forget where I was when I got the call. I have to tell you something, she said. She probably thought she was dropping an atomic bomb of unexpected news. What she didn’t yet understand was that, already, my intuition had stirred up a whirlpool of dread in the pit of my stomach.… Continue reading MY UNMARRIED DAUGHTER IS PREGNANT
A BIRTHDAY WISH FOR MY SECOND-BORN DAUGHTER
September 6, 2011. I cried almost the whole day long. Really. Maybe I was hormonal or it was a full moon or it was the first time I’d ever been the mother of a seventeen-year-old girl. Maybe d) all of the above. In any case, by the time I went to the bus stop at… Continue reading A BIRTHDAY WISH FOR MY SECOND-BORN DAUGHTER
Two ways to see Charlie
This is a story about an old man I met on a flight from Las Vegas to Tucson. But also, it’s about more. We almost missed the connection. Our flight from San Jose was late departing but, luckily, they held the flight in Las Vegas and we made it by the skin of our teeth.… Continue reading Two ways to see Charlie
That Thing I Never Told You – A dear friend
That thing I never told you is a series of posts here on The Spot that attempt to reveal a previously unspoken sentiment. Each post is directed at a very specific someone–whether it’s the grocery store clerk who carded me on the weekend of my 37th birthday (thank you very much!) or the elderly neighbor… Continue reading That Thing I Never Told You – A dear friend
Letter to a much younger me
Dear Darcie, Your life is on the brink of a change from which there is no return. Part of you already knows as much–has known it since the moment those two pink lines crept across that little window. It’s an instantaneous change, one that leaves you acutely aware of the precious and tiny life growing… Continue reading Letter to a much younger me
Fix my eyes
Jeff was out of town for work last week. During his trip, we faced a sizeable–though thankfully rare for us–marital issue that kept us up on the phone until the wee hours of a weeknight morning. It was the last night of his trip and this was one of those things that we absolutely had… Continue reading Fix my eyes
Something I can live with
I spent last weekend in Denver. My mom lives there. Both my grandma and I flew in for a weekend-long celebration of my grandma’s birthday. Although I think she’d be fine with it, I won’t mention which particular birthday it was, just in case. As a gift to her, my mom and I surprised her… Continue reading Something I can live with
Live like that
Each night, I kneel at Jayce’s bedside and there in the dark we take turns praying aloud. First me and then him. Most often he prays for the same things: blessings for Karamuka and Kimani (our sponsored Compassion children) and the new girl whose name he can’t remember, blessings for his sisters, blessings for grandparents… Continue reading Live like that
The truth about angels
Photo by Tammy Sue under a Creative Commons public domain license When I was a little girl, I believed that when good people died, they went to heaven and became an angel. I can’t say exactly where that belief was rooted, though it was certainly reinforced in the cartoons I watched. I’m sure you’ve seen… Continue reading The truth about angels