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The Masks We Wear
I’ve been thinking a lot about the events of the past week; especially in light of the nature of this blog. Grief is for real! And it can come from many different areas and display in people in many different ways. It’s obvious from the nature of the media coverage, that the fashion and entertainment industries, including many journalists, are trying to come to grips with the loss of two prominent people in less than a week. Grief following the death of a loved one is hard. Trying to figure out the why, when someone takes their own life, is even more difficult. There’s been several reoccurring things I’ve heard…
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National Suicide Prevention – Call 1-800-273-8255!
I hesitated posting anything earlier this week in the aftermath of hearing about Kate Spade’s death. It was hard enough to hear about someone my own age, dying, but to learn that it was a suicide was even harder to take. I’m also not a therapist or a mental health counselor, and so I didn’t want to carelessly write something that might upset someone, or trigger a negative response. But this morning, I woke up to the early sounds of text messages coming from family and friends wishing me a Happy Birthday. And just five minutes after I was fully awake, yet still debating whether I really wanted to actually…
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Blessed are those Who Mourn
Six years ago, on June 1, 2012, I was spending the last night of my week-long mission trip to Haiti in the courtyard area of the center where we stayed. It had been a long, productive, tiring, and blessings filled trip. I was both ready to go and wanting to stay at the same time. A lot of good work had been done. We were gathering together one last night to talk about what each team had accomplished that day throughout the village, and to pray, sing, read scripture, and rejoice over our time in the village of Neply before heading back to the States the next day. There was…
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Conversations with a Stranger
I’m back in my hometown for the Memorial Day weekend. It’s been mostly a good trip so far. I’ve kept it low key, not trying to connect with everyone while I’m home. For most of the first of two weeks, I’ve been hanging out at Starbucks in an attempt to get some writing done. So far, it’s been a little disappointing, as I’ve endured several distractions, including some I create myself! But I had an interesting distraction one day last week. I went to the same Starbucks and sat at the same small table two days in a row. The first day, I ended up joining in on some hot…
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Another Mother’s Day
As I sit in a coffee house today, working on this blog post, I’ll admit it’s one I’ve struggled with writing. Today is Mother’s Day and the world is celebrating. It’s nice that we put aside one day a month to focus on our moms; but mothers should be celebrated everyday. Or at least every week. But I know that I’m not alone in having mixed emotions about today’s celebration. I have many friends who have lost their mothers. The loneliness of their absence is still raw for most. And having a month with the never-ending advertisements constantly showing the happy families of adult children surprise visiting their moms, and…
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My Last Mother’s Day
The official Mother’s Day holiday, as is celebrated in the United States, originally came through the efforts of a woman name Anna Jarvis. She conceived of the holiday following her mother’s death in 1905, as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. In 1908 she organized a huge Mother’s Day celebration at her church, and four years later, established the Mother’s Day International Association, designed to help promote her efforts to make Mother’s Day a national observance. It wasn’t until 1914 that President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Anna Jarvis’ mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died on…
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Birthdays and Memories. Life Moves Too Fast
After looking at the clock twice, and wondering where the time had gone this morning, I decided I had just enough time to squeeze in an email I’d been meaning to send all weekend regarding a project I’m about to start working on. It wasn’t going to be a short one, so I grabbed my laptop instead of using my phone, and stared at the screen for a moment, trying to pull my thoughts together. Within seconds of sitting, any thoughts towards completing the email were gone. Instead, my mind was taken away by the iCal prompt that popped on my screen. As I stared at the two day advance…
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Another Sunday Morning It Was Not
It was another hectic Sunday morning! My life had been on hectic overdrive for the last two years, and getting ready for church this Sunday morning was no different. I’d just sold my house earlier that month and moved back to the side of town that took me more miles away from church, but put me at least at the halfway point to being closer to my work. I’d not yet adjusted my “gotta get out of the house earlier” timing down; having gone from being less than five miles from church, to now being over 15 miles away. I was also still dragging; a little on edge; physically exhausted…
