Lent 2023 - Murrelets

I was married to Mr. One-Day-at-a-Time. After his diagnosis with stage 4 prostate cancer (it had already spread to his bones), he lived one day at a…

John couldn’t remember or didn’t know the answer the Hospice nurse asked. He replied in matter-of-fact tone, “Ask Teressa. She knows.” At that poin…

My husband entered Hospice Care at Home just days before the Covid-19 pandemic became very real in the United States. He died seven months later. …

Mostly I do buy only what I need. Probably because I’m cheap. But not always. I live in a house that is twice what I need on an everyday basis. I b…

Out in the country Twenty-six miles or so south of town By the well On the Neumann Ranch I remember As a kid we’d go out a few times a week To water …

His cremains, I learned later, had been placed under a large fake rock with dozens of others who had deeded their bodies to the Carver School of Medi…

There was a time I served on the Board of Directors for a local Food Pantry, even taking my turn being president. Food insecurity was – and probably…

It was Girl Scout Sunday and the first time I did Pulpit Supply with the congregation. (Pulpit Supply is best described as substitute preaching and …

In the United Church of Christ we like to say “No matter who you are, or where you are in life’s journey, you are welcome here.” We like to think we …

John used to say he’d never met a cookie he didn’t like. He meant it. You wouldn’t have known it by looking at him since he’d been a long-distance r…

My father calls me good looking. But he calls all of us good looking. My mother calls me kind. I take that as a high compliment. My sister recently…

John wasn’t too sure. But as the pain from the cancer intensified, he reluctantly agreed the hospice massage therapist could visit. Once. On her fi…

Don’t lie to me. When I find out, I will be annoyed and possibly even angry. I wonder if it’s a genetic thing. My sister once recounted something o…

I read today’s prompt then went about normal morning things – eating breakfast, reading the newspaper, catching up on email and sending birthday gree…

Two ring-necked pheasants live in the ravine behind my home. Or maybe they only make appearances there and live somewhere else. I caught a glimpse …

One of my favorite stories of an ancestor involves my Grandma Mary and her mother. I remember getting to stay with my great-grandmother in her littl…

Most of the time I’m plumb happy to just wear my walking shoes. They’re running shoes, but I haven’t run for years – at least not intentionally. My…

Divisive issues abound in the extended family. The last time I had lunch with my parents and an aunt and uncle, my aunt started to say something and…

Having just finished preparing to lead a contemplative prayer session using Psalm 23, the one thing I wish I remembered better day-in and day-out is …

I once told my father – and he likes to repeat the line – that the only choice I thought I had about going to college was which college to attend. E…