I admit, I don't always live like the best is yet to come. Take the other day, for example. I almost missed it. It was the third day in a row of grey, overcast whether, and a mixture of ice and snow covered the ground. My three-year-old played inside while I did some last minute Christmas shopping online. Then, I hurried to round up my two youngest and pick up my firstborn from after school activities. As we made our way down the mountain, it appeared. With swift movement, it peaked from Continue Reading
When the Holidays Cause Joy and Pain to Collide
There’s something about the holidays that magnifies our deepest emotions. Our joy and our pain collide, dizzying us at times. Our comfort and our grief come together, often leaving us searching for answers. In the midst of the carols, the lights and hunts for the perfect gifts, we sometimes flounder on a roller coaster of feelings. How do we find solid ground? What is it that can make this time of year both hard and joyous at the same time? Two weeks ago, a person I dated in college died. Continue Reading
The Silent Joy Killer We Don’t See Coming
My control freak tendency can be the biggest joy killer known to mankind. Ask me how I know. Let’s go back thirteen years to one of the few occasions I actually released control. My husband and I stood on top of an inactive volcano in Maui, waiting for the sunrise. I planned this highlight of our honeymoon for months. We stood at 10,023 feet, and as the cloud cover around us turned bright shades of red and orange, our setting became other-worldly. I huddled next to my husband to Continue Reading
