My first Christmas with my husband’s family, I discovered that not everyone has the same definition for “candy cane cookies.” When my husband requested them, I made my family’s favorite recipe: a hearty, oatmeal cookie filled with candy cane chunks and glazed with powdered sugar and crushed candy cane. We’d gotten the recipe from another…
Dear Ru, You’d been wanting to build a snowman for months, ever since you knew snow was coming. You heard me mention something on the phone about getting something finished outside before the snow flew and you were talking about the snow flying. A green snowman was your plan. I had visions of a snowman…
“Be not afraid.” It wasn’t the first time I’d played Mary and heard those words from the lips of the angel with a baptismal robe and cardboard wings. (One time, I’d even played the angel.) But it was the first time I’d acted the part since joining the drama troupe, since learning there was more…
It started snowing on Sunday morning—Ru woke up to a bit of frosting on the world in celebration of her third birthday. “It’s frosting snow!” she told me. I’m not sure if that’s because I spent months telling her it was only frost, not snow, on the ground outside (because oh how she’s been looking…
We revisited the deliciousness the summer my cousin Abbie was here. It wasn’t as if I had never had a BLT before, but these things that Abbie called “open-faced sandwiches”—a staple in her family—were amazing, especially on my sister-in-law’s homemade bread with fresh ground wheat. And, the best part of all was that Abbie’s open-faced…
Dearest Fred, Can you believe that today marks 14 years since our families met? We were just-barely-turned 13-year-olds. We had no idea we would be meeting our future spouse that day. But the God-ordained timing of the Riverside Geyser in Yellowstone National Park on September 30, 1996 changed our lives forever. It was three and…
Ru, You keep your mother perpetually in one of two states, sometimes both at once. I feel like I’m always either in fits of laughter or pulling my hair out these days! The other morning you came up to me and announced, “I’m Piglet’s Grandma, Momma. I’m Piglet’s Grandma.” When I finally acknowledged that fact,…
She was born 9 and a half months after I was. Her dad was my mom’s older and only sibling. We were cousins. But far from two peas in a pod. She was mistaken for an Indian papoose, I looked like Anne Shirley. She was quiet, I was talkative. But we both liked cats. And…
By all these lovely tokensSeptember days are here,With summer’s best of weatherAnd autumn’s best of cheer.-Helen Hunt Jackson, September My favorite month of the year is more than half over. My hubby and I have celebrated our birthdays together. My dear cousin has wed the man of her dreams. A dear family friend has moved…
Dear Ru, Three weeks ago yesterday, your daddy called me and asked if I’d looked outside lately. I hadn’t, but I did. There was black smoke billowing up, just down the road. And the wind was blowing like crazy. On a very, very hot summer day. Instantly, I was just a few years older than…
Ru, You fell out of your bed twice last night. I believe that was a first, and you’ve been sleeping in it all summer! Of course, the first time had nothing to do with the fact that after we tucked you in and closed the door you moved about half of your stuffed animal menagerie…
Dearest, As with so many, many things in my life, my memories of September 11, 2001, are all intertwined with memories of you. My dad, brother Will, and I had gotten up early that morning. We were driving here to help your family with building your parents’ home. The Country radio station was on (it…
The End.
The End.