William the Outcast
I met William at our son’s first high school cross-country meet on one of those perfectly warm, sunny Indian summer afternoon with leaves just beginning to turn. As I observed Zach interacting with William, I saw two kindred spirits—both friendly and kind, but socially awkward and idiosyncratic. I silently repeated one of my favorite clichés—“birds […]
Sold!
My daughter Anna was talking about her senior thesis the other day. “The Plight of Russian Orphans” documents her adoption. She hopes to educate and motivate others to consider giving a Russian orphan the gift of a family. She chose not to include adoption costs in her paper because the “sticker shock” might deter some […]
Prodigal Peanut
I am breathing hard and fit to be tied! I just got in from rounding up horses for the evening. Our horses, the well-behaved ones, were fairly easy to lead into the paddock. Peanut, our boarder horse, was a nightmare! I love her but I was ready to ring her neck because of her refusal […]
Wonder Dog
Isabelle is our incredible, fabulous, stupendous, amazing, most wonderful yellow Labrador Retriever in the world! We brought her home as a pup, just eight weeks old. She chose us. Responding to a newspaper ad, my husband and I drove an hour north of our home to pick out our first puppy. Among a litter of […]
Parfum de Violet
Violet lived on the wrong side of the tracks—literally. I grew up in a fairly affluent area where most of the kids in my high school had well-educated, professional parents with many material possessions. There was an area of town, however, that was not affluent but still part of our school district. The poor area […]
Quack
This weekend, I spent much time on my knees in the drizzling rain. I wasn’t exactly praying. I was weeding in my first battle of the season. My enemy? Quack grass, the third most invasive weed species in the world. Living in the country as I do, quack grass is abundant in the fields and, […]
Thrasher
I flew to Arizona for a five day retreat to visit my 78 year-old father in Green Valley. Just up the street from my dad’s home is a beautiful condo collection, one of which I rent each spring. My condo this year overlooked the sensitive contour line of the Santa Rita Mountains. Being the first […]
Lead Foot
We live in a fast-paced, high stim world. See, I didn’t even take the time to spell out “stimulation” because everyone knows what “stim” means, right? It’s faster to keyboard and faster to say. The need for speed is at an all time high. We have quicker access to more information and more stimulation than […]
Benched
Yesterday, I received an email from our son’s junior high basketball department. The athletic director wrote that the program “can best be compared to a gifted academic program.” He stated, “Students will not play equally,” adding that effort will be made to play every member but that it may be “impossible” due to the “competitive level of […]
Going for Gold
My car thermometer registered four degrees and the relentless, cutting wind made standing outside painful to any exposed skin. I drove into the school parking lot and stopped as close to the door as possible. Nick was bundled up in layers of turtleneck and Polar Tec, topped off with ski mask, snow pants, winter coat, […]
Heather’s Arc
I did not want to start another day. Waves of emotion washed over me until I felt barely able to keep my head above the surf and catch my breath. Discouraged. Depressed. Overwhelmed. Helpless. What happened to this once devoted Christian so eager to follow Christ? The one who had set out to feed Jesus’ […]