As my oldest daughter steps into her final semester of college, I find myself caught in a whirlwind of emotions. It’s a bittersweet symphony of nostalgia and overwhelming realization that she’s swiftly reaching significant milestones in her life. This transition isn’t just hers; it marks a transformation in my journey as a parent as well….
Embracing Mistakes and Vulnerabilities: Growing Older with Hopefulness
Lately, I’ve been pretty introspective. I can’t help but think about how much life has changed in the last few decades. I’ve been through a lot – a professional career, watching my two children grow up, and experiencing many ups and downs along the way. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to realize that being gentle with yourself and finding gratitude in the present moment is everything.
Back at it: Reflections on Returning to Blogging After a Hiatus
It’s been a minute since I last sat down to write for my personal blog, but I’m thrilled to be back at it again. It’s funny how life has a way of keeping us busy, and before we know it, time has flown by and life is almost unrecognizable since the last time I was here. Though much has changed, the core of me and where this comes from is still there, buried a bit, but coming out piece by piece
Holding Space
To the women who raised us and the women of our own history books who cast the longest shadows, the women who silently bear scars and the wounds of holding so much space for so many. The women who paved the path stone by painstaking stone, taking care to cover the ground with your collective…
Unprecedented Year
I’m so tired of that word unprecedented. It is in every email I get from any company that I’ve ever given my email to in the past. It’s become trite and overused… but it isn’t inaccurate. So I’m choosing a new narrative around how unprecedented it has been in 2020.
Legacy
Six years ago this morning, my grandfather Brawley Vaughan passed away peacefully at the Eastern Nebraska Veterans Home. He was 87 years old. I’ve documented at length the man that he meant to his family and to me. Every year this day leaves a bit more of my heart in pieces. But in all of…
Never Enough
I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about my daughters these days. Not in these large sweeping grandiose ways about the depth of our relationship or how I came to be their mama, or how incredibly quickly the time has passed. I try not to get hung up on what they are learning from me and what they will carry with them that they learned under my roof and the cosmos that orchestrated it all to come to pass.
Always.
Alan Rickman passed away today. I never met him and he certainly had no idea I even existed, but I am devastated by the news. You see, he created an unexpected pathway to my teenage daughter, Taylor. A cherished connection in the budding years of her life where I’m becoming irrelevant and aged to her….
Little Bargains
Two nights ago, I heard my daughter Cate whispering to our dog, Chase Muttley. She was kneeling down, very close to his face her little hands scratching him behind his tall ears. I couldn’t begin to guess what she was saying but I assumed her murmurs to be sweet nothings or puppy/baby talk. She finished speaking…
Role (With the Punches)
Three years ago, my then five year-old Cate suddenly took ill. She became lethargic and developed strider in the early morning hours unexpectedly. After rushing her to the Emergency Room I went through several scary days that included a hospital stay in the at Children’s Medical Center. What I wrote about that experience is as…
Leaving a Path 