Category: Uncategorized
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I say yes to…
My writing group reviews each other’s work each week. But we ended our latest class in new way, with a writing prompt to get our creative juices flowing. The prompt was, “I say yes to…” and this fell out of my pen, and I thought I’d share it here. I say yes to gratitude. To…
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Making Grace
Then came the editing. Oh, the editing. Who wrote this drivel? Writing is fun. Self-editing is the price you pay for it.
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The Tray
When Len and I had just gotten married, my mother in law, Angela, bought me a big bamboo tray. While I thanked her with a smile, I internally rolled my eyes at the gift. I felt like her insinuation was that I would be a 1950’s-style housewife in heels and a skirt, serving her beloved…
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Our Bailey
We were hungover when we got her. My husband, Len, and I had stayed at a friend’s house in Annapolis and partied all night with our work friends. On the ride home, we looked over and saw the sign at our local PetSmart: “Adoption Fair today.” Still foggy-brained, we looked at each other and decided…
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What is Patriotism?
I’m confused. In the world that is topsy turvy, up is down right now, an especially confusing conundrum has presented itself and I need help understanding it. A terrible scourge has swept the planet. We can sit and point fingers at who started it and study how it spread, but at the end of the…
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Mami’s Magic
I DREAMT ABOUT HER LAST NIGHT. WE WERE VISITING A COLLEGE I WANTED TO GO TO. I WAS YOUNGER, SHE WAS YOUNGER AND WE WERE HAPPY AND HEALTHY. Walking the campus, I noticed a water spigot that had been left running and was causing some water to pool in a parking lot. “Watch this,” I…
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Lessons from Melania
As we near the close of Melania Trump’s first and only term as First Lady, I’ve been thinking about what we might have learned from her time in this incredibly important role. While she didn’t campaign as a First Lady that would have a strong public platform, one could see the possibility of a lovely…
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Thank you, Coco
It took a Disney movie to teach me what my Mami attempted to instill in me every year of my childhood. The day after Halloween, we would go to church for All Saints Day, but for her and her homeland of Guatemala, the days following Halloween were a celebration of Dia de los Difuntos, or Day…
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The Language of the Sigh
My mom had a sigh. It came from the depths of her soul and whenever she used it, you could feel the weight of it as she exhaled. I hated it when she used her sigh on me. It was usually her response to my complaints about any number of things. How one of my…
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WWJD Election 2020
Leading into the upcoming election, there is a lot of anxiety. I can say that I feel it acutely. I find myself having the classic flight or fight responses to news articles and at the same time, am exhausted by the divisiveness and anger that seems to be on everyone’s lips and fingertips these days,…
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What Do We Do Now?
We quarantined. We homeschooled. We shifted our work to zoom calls and everyone grew a beard. We shared tips on how to use clippers to give our sons haircuts, and laughed about showing our own true hair color. We virtually toured zoos and museums. We planted gardens. We grew yeast for homemade breads. We threw…
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The Roller Coaster of Quarantine
It’s become our quick hello of quarantine. “How you guys holdin’ up?” comes the passer-by as we sit on our front porch. “Oh you know, ups and downs”, followed by a quick example of either a high or low, depending on the mood. Ups and downs. Always both in the same day, sometimes in the…
Landings: musings at life's intersections 