After a long day of hiking, our canteens were empty and our bodies yearned for rest and replenishment. We passed a sign on the path labeled "Spring" with an arrow pointing to a spur trail through the woods. Water from a cold, clean mountain spring was just the...
The rain began pattering our tent before the sun came up. Yesterday, we hiked a few miles up a steep trail and were blessed with a beautiful view of the valley from the mountain peak. The mid-July weather had been perfect--sunny, not too hot, not too...
"What is your favorite part of this weekend?" My cousin asked as she leaned across the table with a smile. "Having everyone under the same roof," I said confidently. It had been a year since we had all been together. "What is the hardest part of the...
"Well, it's a Monday!" is a phrase often heard to describe an otherwise difficult start to the day or week. Whether you've said this yourself or been the bystander as someone else begins to lament over their morning woes, the way we frame our week...
A brisk walk in the morning takes me down the same beaten path. The faster I walk the faster I can get out of the heat and on to the real business of the day. Only five more minutes. Only a quarter of a mile left....
"That's hard with 20/20 hindsight," my husband texted me as I finished processing the "what-ifs" of a past loss with him. "It's unhealthy and unproductive to dwell in the past," his text continued. "It can't change anything." If only we could have 20/20 vision in the present,...
The look on my son’s face said it all. What had been a wonderful family day was being overshadowed by a disappointment that to others might seem minor but to him meant everything. Before he could stomp up the stairs and stew allowing the cloud of frustration...
“Where did the time go?” I think to myself. Staring at my daughter dressed in her graduation gown, my heart simultaneously holding the joy of pride and the pain of letting her go. “I miss you, mom,” marks the pages of my tear-stained journal this morning....
"How many more days, Mom?" my five-year old son asked over lunch. This was a question that had been on repeat for the last month or more. Anxiously awaiting his birthday, my son could barely contain his excitement. Until one morning, he woke up and said, "Happy...