When my children sat in a puddle of tears or pouted over the unfairness of cleaning a mess, I gave them my go-to response: “Where’s your happy face?” I didn’t dismiss their frustration or sadness because I wasn’t compassionate, although they might have disagreed. But because so much [...]
I have a soft spot for birthdays. That day you enter the world, new, soft, and loved. You often hear, “Live each day as if it was your last.” Suleika Jaouad, author, musician, and artist, believes that is terrible advice. As she faced overcoming, more than once, and [...]
My grandma lived through two world wars, the Great Depression, and hot summers in South Texas. Not once did I hear her complain or whine about her endless daily chores of milking cows, tending chickens, or baking bread. I watched Grandma do all those things and more, but [...]
The light blue Princess phone waits on the repainted bedside table surrounded by paperback novels, scraps of poems, and the peacock blue ballpoint pen. The remnants of the distant life of a quiet, teenage girl. The phone speaks . . . a ring so quiet you might not [...]
Every morning, I make a list. Somewhere in my youth and childhood, this daily habit became a lifelong obsession. There is something oddly satisfying about checking off or crossing out a “to-do.” I listed homework to do. Lists of songs and books to read filled spiral-bound notebooks. Elaborate [...]
I had an imaginary conversation with a five-year-old: Me: “What are your hobbies?” Child: “Hm?” Me: “Well, what do you do when you’re not at school?” Child: “Play! But I play at school, too.” Have you ever asked a child to list their hobbies? Probably not. Adults usually [...]
Smells. What do they conjure, and why do they trigger a moment in time? My nose perked up reading an article by Margaret Talbot, “Remembrances of Scents Past.” She wrote about a new exhibit at the British Library in London allowing visitors to experience the scents of thirteenth-century [...]
My answer to that question partially rests on my perspective and understanding of what dust is, where it comes from, and how it affects me. I encountered dust this week, some bad, annoying, and another dust full of potential for awe and wonder. I won’t dwell on the bad, [...]
I gripped the handle of the jump rope, unaware of anyone or anything around me. My stage, a wooden picnic table, my audience, the trees, swings, and sky. Song after song, I belted out the melodies from all my favorite yellow vinyl records. In those moments, I never [...]
So, how hot is it? When the Texas heat brought scorching days and humid nights, my dad would fuss and fume about the heat shriveling his tomatoes or thwarting the growth of his crooknecked yellow squash. We heard, more than once, “It is so hot you can fry [...]
