After seventeen years of marriage, sleeping alone in our bed evokes a deep, intimate loneliness. I miss Rob every time I turn off the light and slip beneath my blankets. Since he died, many nights I just can’t do it. I grab a sleeping bag and pillow and camp out for the night on theContinue reading “Poetry Friday: “All You Who Sleep Tonight””
Search results for: marriage
The Nicest Gift You Could Give
The year after our first daughter was born, Rob gave me a Kitchen-Aid standing mixer for Mother’s Day. In secret, he headed down to our local Williams-Sonoma store and picked it out. We’d only been married for three years. He didn’t yet realize how much I hate to cook. In those years, we were prettyContinue reading “The Nicest Gift You Could Give”
Nothing To Say
As we drove through the national park, my husband Rob glanced away from the road toward the shores of Yellowstone Lake. A retired couple sat in two camping chairs a few feet from the water’s edge. No books rested in their laps, no fishing rods in their hands. They simply sat, enjoying the silence, surroundedContinue reading “Nothing To Say”
Words Woven Together
Early in our marriage, Rob and I discovered that we enjoyed working together on writing projects. In college, Rob had studied English, and I had majored in communications. We both loved the written word and hoped to build communications careers after college. As husband and wife, we developed a great writing relationship. In our 20s,Continue reading “Words Woven Together”
DISCOVERING GRACE IN GRIEF
“A channel in my self-bound soul”
Today, on Maundy Thursday, the church remembers the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples before his death, the meal at which he washed his friends’ feet. Maundy Thursday is one of the final stops on our journey through Holy Week. There’s a feeling of inevitability that hangs over this day. Everybody knows this momentContinue reading ““A channel in my self-bound soul””
Becoming Me
Boredom is the mother of invention. Or rather, in our house, the mother of maple syrup. At some point during our last three weeks of quarantine, my boys decided to start tapping our backyard trees. I regularly send them outside with nothing in particular to do, hoping inspiration or a game of pick-up basketball willContinue reading “Becoming Me”
Hidden in My Heart
As a child, I attended a small Christian school where weekly Bible memory verses were part of the curriculum. During my school years, I memorized hundreds of verses, all in the lyrical King James Version. Each year, memory verse assignments became increasingly long, so that by the time I was a senior in high school,Continue reading “Hidden in My Heart”
What’s in a Name?
Recently, I gave a presentation at my children’s school. Many students know that my two children who attend there lost their father last summer. They are aware that our family doesn’t look like theirs. It is always a relief to enter a group of people with whom I don’t need to explain the complexities ofContinue reading “What’s in a Name?”
Married, Filing Jointly
Last night I began preparing our tax return. Since Rob and I married in 2002, I’ve done our taxes every year. I love the job. Each January, I label a manila envelope and stick it on the kitchen counter to collect tax documents as they arrive in the mail. And on an evening like lastContinue reading “Married, Filing Jointly”
