Which Is More Awesome—Mount Rainier or the Blue Angels?
After the Cannon Beach portion of my recent trip west, my husband and I spent a few days in Seattle with our daughter. For these days also we had lovely weather, and Mount Rainier appeared on the horizon most days. I always marvel at this mountain, which looms thousands of feet above anything around it. […]
Sounds of Cicadas
Many memories are triggered by milestone anniversaries—things that happened five or ten or twenty-five years ago. But this memory of mine returned because of a seventeen-year anniversary. The seventeen-year cicadas are back this summer. It’s been so rainy that I haven’t been outside to hear them much, but the news reports bring to mind memories of […]
Stories I Couldn’t Tell Before: The Communion Host
I’ve known since I began writing this blog that there were stories I couldn’t (or wouldn’t) tell until after my parents were dead. But I thought it would be many more years before I could tell them. A year ago, both of my parents were alive (though my mother’s Alzheimer’s was advancing rapidly). Now they […]
Daddy’s Date . . . No, Make that Grandpa’s Date!
The church where my sister was married had a very firm rule that any children who were members of the wedding party had to be at least five. My son, at age six, qualified to be a ring bearer. My daughter, who would turn three just days before the wedding, could not be a flower […]
Family Resemblances Redux
I hadn’t seen this picture of my mother until I found it in an old picture album when I was preparing a slide show of her life for her funeral last summer. I love the youth and innocence she depicts from a time long before she was my mother. Until I saw this picture, I […]
You Know Your Children Are Grown When . . . [Part IV]
Here’s another list of instances when I have been struck by how independent and mature (well, most of the time) my children are. You know your children are grown when . . . 1. You see them for the first time after your parent dies and you burst into tears and they comfort you like you […]
Family Ritual: Reading Aloud at Bedtime
March is National Reading Awareness Month. I’ve written before about how important reading has been in our family, but my earlier post (here) focused on how my mother read to me when I was a child. My husband and I also read to our kids when they were small. We read to our son (our older […]
Out of the Closet
Here is the post I had planned for January 7. I think I’m ready for it now: One of the things I love most about my house is the huge closet in the master bedroom. It is about ten feet by fourteen feet and lined with rods on the sides and down the middle. I […]
True Christmas Story: A Visit from St. Nicholas
In some families, Santa Claus comes to call ahead of Christmas Eve every year. Other families take their children to see St. Nicholas at the mall every year. I only remember one time Santa came to see my brother and me, and one later visit to the mall to see him. The evening Santa came […]
Hand-Me-Downs: The Little Blue Coat
As the oldest child, I didn’t have to wear many hand-me-downs. Occasionally, I wore clothes from the daughter of my mother’s friend. When I reached junior high, I sometimes had to wear something of my mother’s. I hated that, because styles meant for a thirty-something woman in the late 1960s seemed frumpy on a thirteen […]