Tonight, I attended the opening reading for the Ashland University MFA program where I used to work. After knowing every student, faculty member, and visiting writer for the first seven years of the program, it is still surreal to walk into that space and not recognize most of the faces. But what was especially lovely … More The Gift of Writer’s Residencies
I know I’ve already said it here, the thing about this season of unproductivity and feeling at a loss for words for most things, and it’s true—in the last year since The Family Bible Devotional came out, any time I’ve sat down to type a thing, anything not tied to some dollar-generating deadline, my fingers have hovered … More Ordinary Time
I spent this weekend with my mom and daughter in Savannah, Georgia. It couldn’t have gone any better – the weekend felt scripted and presented to us in a ribbon-tied package filled with as much stress-free and joy-filled time as possible. We toured and walked and ate and drank. We sunbathed and swam in the … More A Time to Mourn, a Time to Dance
You guys, I used to be a writer. I used to have thoughtful thoughts all day long and scribble them in notes on my phone to reference later in a blog post or article, sometimes three or four a month plus writing projects and essays in which I thought more thoughtful thoughts and then sent … More On Not Writing
Let me tell you a familiar story: There is a beautiful girl, dressed in beautiful clothes. A man finds her attractive and schemes with a friend how he can have her. When she is alone with him, he grabs her and demands that she go to bed with him. When she cries out, No!, he … More When Rape Is in the Bible
2016-2017: Learning about Wilderness Every day we can, Brandon and I take walks around our neighborhood in Copley with Izzy. It’s a one-mile trek. We leave the kids at the house and walk. We walk and talk. We walk and don’t talk. We talk and laugh. We talk and disagree and explain what made us … More Marriage: Year Fourteen
Fall 2015: Learning about Patience The fall of 2015 began Donkey’s Farewell Tour – Brandon’s last season of working on the road with ESPN. When he was gone, he was out late eating great food and drinking bourbon with friends. When he was home, he was impatient, irritable, distant, and angry. I walked a deserted … More Marriage: Year Thirteen
December 2014: Learning about Chocolate Cake and Bourbon One thing I learned in December 2014: Don’t try to keep up with the guys who are drinking bourbon at your new job’s end-of-year party and also eat chocolate cake the night before you’re supposed to fly to Connecticut for a wedding. You will recover before the … More Marriage: Year Twelve
January 2012: Learning about Nutrition Rescued by the saving grace of the Whole 30, Brandon and I became food evangelists. If 18-year-old fresh convert Sarah was obnoxious with her “everybody gets a Bible for Christmas” evangelizing, 29-year-old Paleo diet Sarah challenged her to laps around the dining room table. But cutting out dairy, cheese, sugar, … More Marriage: Year Nine
2009-2010: Learning about Friendship After the MFA program’s summer residency in August 2010 I went to the doctor to find the heartbeat of our sixth pregnancy and found none, again, and this time the sadness is buried in a dogpile of toddler and preschooler on top of me. Lydia is four and Elvis turns three … More Marriage: Year Seven
