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Parenting adults… a parallel journey
Our experiences were on a parallel track, and while I could appreciate the beauty of her journey, I also found that I needed to feel the grief and loss of change in mine.
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Making new friends…
In this season of my life, I am realizing that new friendships are harder to come by. As my life has shifted and reshaped itself over time, there are fewer hours to find for new faces. Where once, we could spend long afternoons getting to know one another over slow cups of coffee, now we must fit it in between the blocks of our already overscheduled lives.
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What is saving my life today…
What is saving my life now is the conviction that there is no spiritual treasure to be found apart from the bodily experiences of human life on earth. My life depends on engaging the most ordinary physical activities with the most exquisite attention I can give them. My life depends on ignoring all touted distinctions between the secular and the sacred, the physical and the spiritual, the body and the soul. What is saving my life now is becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life in the real world.” Barbara Brown Taylor from An Altar in the World: A Geography of…
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Managing the gauges
I think about the video games my kids played. They had gauges measuring life, health, fire power, or strength. As the kids moved through the game, interactions might increase or decrease the health, strength, or fire power of a character. They were always looking at the life gauge that indicated when the game had come to an end.
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Looking ahead…
I’ve been watching her move forward this year, as though I am cramming for a test. As I look ahead, I am aware that my path might look different, but if I am lucky, and live long enough, I too will face these kinds of life changes.
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Self-care in real life…
When I am weary to the bone, depleted mentally and physically, I often need good old-fashioned rest. I need the get off the ride and allow the world to stop spinning.
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Minding the silence…
I love words. When I get overwhelmed, you can often find me on my way to the book store. The weight of pages, the smell, and the hush sooths my soul. I am a talker. I process my world through an almost constant deluge of words. I think out loud examining my life, my experience, my relationships, and my world through words both penned and aired. If you think I have a lot to say, you should hear the words that swirl around inside my head that never even see the light of day. Sometimes, I find that I need a break. Maybe you too, need a break from words. Imagine…
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Redefining success…
Success here is not based on a number on my scale or the back of my pants, but a new awareness that my body must be nurtured and cared for as a good friend. She needs to be fed, clothed, and cherished. I’m not going to get another.
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Church lady 2.0…
In order to stay, I know I will have to manage my heart and my expectations. I will need to let the church off the hook. She can never fulfill my need, nor live up to my hope. She will continue to stumble and fall, just as I stumble and fall.
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Baby Boucher 2019…
Soon we will be able to hold this new little one in our arms, until then, I am imagining a brown-haired boy with a familiar grin. I close my eyes and can envision the curve of his cheek, the smell of his hair, and his chunky thighs. My heart overflows with the sweetness and blessing of my new grandson.