Seeing a baby take their first steps is a sweet experience.  If you are a softie, like me, it will make you emotional.  You will get a slight lump in your throat as you see the baby shakily place one foot in front of the other.  Sometimes they move very slowly in an attempt to keep their balance.  Other times, they move rapidly and fall head-first.  Depending on their temperament, some remain on the floor and cry.  They look for comfort from a trusted person.  Others will stand up and try it all over again.  No hugs or kisses needed. I won’t ever forget the time that one of my…

I just saw the most amazing video.  A 13-year old girl climbs a huge rock-climbing wall that ends up bending and curving over an Olympic sized pool.  She has no harness or safety equipment.  If she loses her grip, she falls into the water. She’s a tiny thing.  From my vantage point, she doesn’t have huge muscles in her arms.  If I didn’t see her climbing with my own eyes, I probably wouldn’t have guessed that she was that strong.  While climbing, she frequently dips one hand at a time into a small pouch that is tied around her waist.  At first, I thought she was shaking her hands out…

The thought of my dream home excites me.  Don’t get me wrong.  The home that I am currently living in is a dream for me.  It took a LOT for me to get in it.  The process was long.  And grueling.  So much so, that I just knew that I would not ever want to buy another home.  Enough time has passed that I’m over that.  But even if I was offered a bigger home, I would dread one thing….moving. When I worked for my travel therapy company, I would move every nine months.  I only took assignments in school districts.  That was enough time in one place for me. …

Technology has greatly advanced our ability to multi-task and get things done.  It has made many of our jobs more efficient.  In some cases, it has made people’s jobs obsolete.  This week, technology took me through some highs and lows, but I lived to tell the tale. I don’t often access my website from my phone.  I mean, I write it and publish it.  I know what’s on there.  But I wanted to quickly access a blog that I had written.  I pulled the website up on my phone, and to my surprise, there was no way to search for a specific blog. <insert shocked emoji>  Clearly, that meant that…

Fun Fact:  When I was in college, I worked at Payless ShoeSource.  Way back when they really were pay less.  As the years went on, their prices skyrocketed.  Payless went on to glory in May of 2019.  They filed for bankruptcy and shut their doors.  Truly the end of an era.  Instead of focusing on the end, my beginning with Payless deserves some attention.  This was going to be my first professional interview.  I put on my two-piece white church suit and sashayed to the back stock room for my interview with the manager.  Lord, help.  But I was clean though.  I don’t remember the questions.  I don’t remember how…

As I was typing the other day, I heard the weirdest noise.  I looked to see where Fitz, my cat, was.  He was running full speed up and down the hallway.  So, yes, he was making noise, but he wasn’t the source of the noise that I heard.  Then I stared down my refrigerator.  Could it be coming from there?  Then I heard a familiar fizzle.  My neighbors directly behind my house were popping fancy fireworks. Actually, the neighborhood has been popping fireworks for the past two weeks.  One neighbor set off a spectacular display one night in the front yard.  I heard all the rapid-fire popping and just knew…

Obtaining my Master’s degree was hard work.  I remember going to Bible study one Wednesday while I was in graduate school.  My pastor made a statement that stuck with me.  I held on to it for the rest of graduate school.  Really, I reflect on it often when times get tough.  Now that I’ve created some anticipation, are you ready for what he said?  He said something to the effect that it’s easier to endure a trial when there is a set end.  I grabbed that and held on to it because there was a set end for my time at school.  The requirements to obtain my degree were clearly…

My dolls are a mess!  While looking through the toys that I had at my office, I had to have a come to Jesus meeting with my dolls.  We have been together for the last four years – give or a take a few years for the newest members of the collection.  When my move to a new facility was imminent, I decided to try to create order of the chaos that was my toy inventory.  My dolls moved to the top of my priority list. I’m all about categorization.  There is a place for everything, and everything has a place.  The primary home for my dolls was in a…

Bible Study Mama holds fast to the claim that she prefers comedies over romance when forced to pick a movie genre.  Here lately, I have made it my mission to test her theory out.  She came to my house bearing the gift of dinner on Friday.  What’s better than dinner and a movie?  I put on a comedy to see if her stance remained firm. She stayed after the movie and did not seem to have any intention of leaving.  The night was still young.  I knew she wouldn’t spend the night, because she is NOT a fan of my cat, Fitz.  As I scrolled through our options of entertainment,…