I saw her as I was leaving the grocery store.
I was not shopping at my usual store but rather a store in a different location.
My shopping cart was quite full.
The wind outside kicked up a bit and felt like a wind tunnel.

I stopped before I went into the parking lot to make sure my grocery bags were secure.
I was glad I stopped because the woman was right there in front of me.
She was pushing a walker, with a small grocery bag on her arm.
Her feet shuffled slowly, partly because of the wind and partly because of her walker.

Read More...

When I bring the laundry basket to the laundry room I come down the stairs backwards.
I am always careful about lifting things, in order to protect my back.
I slide the laundry basket down the back stairs as I guide it, holding onto the banister.
It may sound dangerous or awkward but in reality it is easier than coming down forward.

I remember when my children were learning to come downstairs.
Going up the stairs had been mastered much too quickly.
Going down the stairs was another story.
They were too little and wobbly to walk downstairs by themselves.

Read More...

He is called, one of America’s most important and original philosophical theologians.
That is how Jonathan Edwards is described.
Edwards was rooted in reformed theology and the Puritan heritage.
He played a critical role in shaping the First Great Awakening.

Edwards loved to observe nature.
He added a philosophic dimension to his observation.
In her book, Marriage To A Difficult Man, Elisabeth D. Dodds describes Edwards.
I remember one paragraph and her description.

Read More...

When she was about six years old, our oldest daughter gave me her birthday list.
I expected to see certain things on the list that I knew she liked.
To my surprise, I saw a T-ball glove as her number one item.
I didn’t think she was serious.

This was my daughter who played with Barbie dolls.
This was the little girl who loved Mary Poppins and would walk with a parasol in order to fly.
She was asking for something that was foreign to me.
It was foreign not because she was a girl but because it seemed to come out of left field.

Read More...

A seasoned mom was what I was asked to be.
It makes sense.
I have raised five children who are now grown; my youngest child is in college.
I am in my mid-fifties; a bit on the other side of middle.

It was a wonderful thing to be asked.
I was to be a seasoned mom at a young mother’s breakfast that was happening at church.
I was simply asked to sit at the table with some of the younger moms.
That would indeed be my pleasure.

Read More...

With five children, I cannot even begin to count how many times I have sat on the sidelines.
I sat on soccer fields, field hockey fields, and lacrosse fields.
I sat on T-ball fields, baseball fields, and outdoor tracks.
A sign on the front of me should have read, Professional Spectator.

My husband was even more faithful, volunteering as coach or assistant coach when needed.
At the college level, he went to far more of our children’s games than I did.
I was usually home with the other children, driving them where they needed to be.
Our family rule was one activity each but with five children, we were still quite busy.

Read More...

My daughter and I sat down to watch a movie together.
It was a movie I had forgotten about, but one that impacted me when I saw it years ago.
It was the story of Erin Gruwell, the teacher who changed the lives of 150 of her students.
It is a story of integration, opportunities, and unlikely friendships.

Erin Gruwell was a student teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California.
One student gave her quite a bit of trouble that year.
When someone drew a caricature of him as an African American man, she related it to history.
She told her students that this was the type of caricature the Nazis used during the Holocaust.

Read More...

It’s funny what you remember about your upbringing.
I was taught to always look people in the eye when I talked to them.
I was told to always write thank you notes in a timely fashion.
I was reminded to always use the appropriate title when addressing someone.

That person worked very hard to acquire that title, my mother told me over and over.
If the person was a doctor, I was to address him as such.
If the person was a policeman, I was to address him as, Officer.
Sir, or ma’am was required when I was not sure of the person’s title.

Read More...

Do you have a birdie in your house, she asked me with a confused look on her sweet face?
A birdie in my house? I repeated looking as confused as she.
You have a lot of birdhouses, she said pointing.
Which one does the birdie live in? She asked looking around.

Until that moment, I never realized that I do have quite a few birdhouses.
Liking country things the way I do, birdhouses are a whimsical decoration.
Some of the birdhouses were gifts from friends.
Others, I found in the country stores I frequent.

Read More...

I thought of the movie, The Lion King all morning.
I thought about the soundtrack when my children sang along.
Hakuna Matata: It means no worries for the rest of your days.
The Circle of Life played as the new lion cub was lifted up for the whole clan to see.

It was the story of Mufasa and his evil brother, Scar.
It was the story of Simba who must learn to cope with the death of his father.
The death of his father shook little Simba to the very core.
The changes in his circumstances made him forget who he was and what he was called to be.

Read More...