I had the same dentist for the majority of my life. He finally retired two or three years ago and sold his practice to a younger man. And while I understood that he was ready to move on to his next phase in life, his retirement threw me for a loop. I can remember my first time in his office like it was yesterday. I must have been in the second grade. My tooth had been giving me the blues. I was in all kinds of pain. My mom had to work, so I went to school until it was time for my dental appointment. I was miserable. My teacher…

Spring has sprung, and so have the weeds in my yard. Actually, the weeds sprung up at the very beginning of the month. I stared at them growing in my backyard as I rinsed off my plates and cutlery at the kitchen sink. I glanced at them sprouting in the front yard as I hurried to my car to go run errands. They brushed my ankles on my return home after a long day. Yup! Spring has sprung and brought with it rain, slightly warmer weather, and those weeds. The weeds were not as much of an issue when I was getting my yard professionally treated. I know…I know…I know.…

I work from home. I sit at the computer all day and do my work. While that would drive some folks to drink, it fills my cup. With the exception of occasional phone calls and team meetings, my day is quiet. And I like it way. I can listen to audiobooks and have a TV show on in the background. I can listen to music. Or just enjoy the silence. I set the atmosphere and happily type away. And while I have minimal contact with others during the workday, there are opportunities to engage with my coworkers. Several different chat rooms exist so that we can ask questions if we…

The urge to write hits me at the oddest times and in the strangest moments. A thought will bubble up in my head, and I will want to capture it. Frequently, it is a “stream of consciousness type of experience.” I do not have to scramble for words. They are just there. And they want to be put on a page. They want to spill out onto an empty page and just chill for a while. Sometimes, my fingers cannot keep up with this steady stream of ideas. I misspell or bunch words together but I keep typing. Until the stream dries up. Until all the words have been released.…

Let me set the scene for you. Bible Study Mama and I journeyed to Tacoma, Washington last April to visit Bible Study Brother and Canae. We had not seen them in person in seven months. Our face to face reunion was long overdue. I spent quite a bit of time compiling a list activities, and restaurants, that we could enjoy while we were all together. We were only there for 4 days and I wanted to fill our days making memories and having new experiences. Our first adventure was riding a ferry to an island. Listen….I watch Grey’s Anatomy regularly and having ferries right there was too tempting to pass…

If you have been hanging around here for any length of time, you know I have a ton of memories that are centered around food. Listen, if my family does not do anything else, we eat. I was raised by my great-grandmother, great-grandfather, and extended family for the first five years of my life. My great-grandmother was old school. We got up early in the mornings so that she could make breakfast for us. Biscuits made from scratch. Rolling out the dough. Dipping the formed mounds in grease. Baking them and waiting impatiently for them to be ready. The stuff of my dreams. Mana from heaven. After the food was…

For most of my life, I have considered myself a person with a low pain tolerance. I mean, most people do not like pain, but I avoided the possibility of physical pain like the plague. Get a shot? Who me???? No way. I was all for being a nurse just like my mom until she talked about giving and receiving shots in school. I crossed that off my list and moved on to other options. I was not willingly signing up for pain. As I got older, I stopped wiggling and whining when I had to receive a shot. I took them with no complaints and was able to get…

When I was a kid, I was an incessant fingernail biter. Bible Study Mama did not have to worry about keeping my nails trimmed to an acceptable length. NOPE! I took care of my nails all on my own. Now, let me be clear. I was not biting my nails because I did not want them to be trimmed. I bit my nails whenever I was worried. It was a calming mechanism for me. So, my little hands sported some pretty ragged looking fingernails. At the time that I was biting them, I made no correlation to my feelings. That correlation comes with age and wisdom. It was just something…

My grandma is not the stereotypical grandma. No. She is different.  Upon deeper reflection, her ability to beat to the sound of her own drum probably greatly influenced my ability to do the same. Spending summers with her was magical. We did not play Uno or Go Fish during my childhood. We played Dominoes, and she taught me how to keep score and count bones. We traveled up and down the road at lightning speed. We explored unknown places just because. She listened to my thoughts. And she told the BEST stories at bedtime. After a long day of activity, you know I could go to sleep at the drop…

Listen, I am in a struggle to get myself together over here. My mind is jumbled with various thoughts. It is not that I do not have anything to say. I have tons to say, but I am having difficulty settling. I am having a hard time focusing and making my point get straight to the point. I typed sentences and erased them several times because they did not feel right. They just were not right for this moment. I got FRUSTATED. Typed some more and erased it all again. Made notes for future blogs and still could not find the right words for this blog. I wanted to quit,…