Leaning On God’s Promises When Everything’s Falling Apart
Do you feel like God has promised you something, but everything is falling apart? I’d like to share with you my own personal story of going through a simultaneous unexpected divorce and the death of my mother. There are so many lessons packed in here about God’s promises and the journeys we take toward their […]
Blame. Is It Necessary?
I’ve been mulling on the concept of blame for the last week. When an accident happens or something goes wrong that we didn’t intend, why do we feel such a compulsion to blame ourselves or others? Someone dies, for example, and we analyze every move we made and what we could have done differently. If […]
A Texas Blue Heeler’s Love
What a lost Texas Blue Heeler taught me about opening my heart and loving more fearlessly.
The Greatest Message of All
On October 3, 2020, my little great-niece Jane (age 3) passed away unexpectedly from leukemia. She had been diagnosed 3 weeks early and had spent those 3 weeks in the hospital with limited visitors due to COVID-19. The day after she came home and was able to spend an evening with her siblings and parents, […]
Angels Are On Your Side
There have been seasons in my life when everything seemed like a mess and that there was no way out of that mess. It’s very easy to get where you never expect anything good to happen ever again. That is how I felt until an angel changed everything for me. I’ve been thinking about how […]
Cleaning House After My Mother Died
It’s been over two years since my mother died and my siblings and our husbands are finally going through her stuff. We had a big day of it Saturday. We had fun traveling down memory lane and finding treasures like handmade quilts and old photos … one old photo of our great aunt as a […]
I Set You Free – A Musical Message from My Mom
Since my mother passed, I often feel her near me and there is one message that tends to come through over and over … “Enjoy your life… you are so blessed. Let go of your fears and your worries. I worried so much over things that were never going to happen. Don’t waste your life […]
Music Therapy: Connecting with the Mother of My Childhood
A wise friend recommended that I create a musical portrayal of my life story – my life opus. I started it a couple weeks ago and I’m sure I’ll be blogging more of my experiences with this type of music therapy. This entry has to do with something I processed about my mother. “Look at […]
Spring Flowers: Remembering Mama
A poem I wrote in memory of my mother. Spring flowers always remind me of her. Sun ray’s stream Through leaves of green. Roses burst pink and red. Hydrangeas pop in a flower bed. Pastel impatiens reach toward sunlight, Shaded by dogwood blossoms bright. Azalea blooms burgeoning too, All of spring reminds me of you. […]
Missing My Mother at Christmas – A Poem About Grief
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Christmas melodies fill the air. But one thing, dear Mother, is most clear: It’s the fact that you’re not here. Throughout the year the business of living Occupies my time. And I treasure the scattered moments when I feel you near my side. Yet, Christmastime is different: […]
The Spring That Healed My Heartbreak
As I drive on gorgeous spring mornings like this one, enjoying the vibrant light, blue skies, and colorful blossoms bursting from trees and earth, my heart remembers last spring. In fact, for moments at a time I am there at the time of my greatest heartbreak. It was March 11 when my 2nd marriage ended […]
Feeling My Mother Near Through Music
A few weeks before our wedding, Dave showed up at my apartment door singing a revised version of Madonna’s “Material Girl.” He sang “Convertible Girl” instead. He stood there, with his phone in video mode and a set of keys dangling from his other hand. Confused, I looked at the keys and then around him, […]
Marking Time: Since My Mother’s Passing
It’s hard to believe this year is coming to a close. I think for the rest of my life I will be marking time as either before or after my mother’s passing. This has been one of the hardest and most wonderful years of my life. I am so grateful for the family and friends […]
Autumn Leaves: Your Deceased Loved One Is Everywhere
Here’s something I’ve learned about losing someone you love since my mother died. Your loved-one shows up in the most unexpected moments, in a myriad of small ways and some big ones. I hear my mother’s unique signature phrases on the lips of friends or complete strangers. I’ve seen her smiling face flash into my […]
I Have Everything I Need In This Moment
The journey of the last few months has taught me a life-altering principle. When you simultaneously “lose” your angel mother, your marriage, your property, a drivable car, and temporarily can’t live in the same home with your children for several months, it has the ability to take you to a place where there is nothing […]
What My Mother’s Love Taught Me About God’s
I’ve had some miraculous things developing in my life since my mother’s passing. She was always running to my rescue in life and I’ve thought she must be an angel working overtime now. About a week after she passed I had this amazing feeling of hope sweep over me and I heard, “Your life is […]
Day 19 Traveling Light: All For a Reason
Today was one of those days when you realize why you are where you are — and it’s not the reason you thought you were. Today my grief is serving another. This morning, my best friend, Martina’s father died unexpectedly. He was only 62 and had not been ill. Imagine the grief and complete shock. […]
Mentors: When the Student Is Ready The Teacher Appears
On October 6, 2015 I posted this to my Facebook wall: “I’ve taken the hero’s journey enough to know that when you have that unsettled feeling that everything is about to change but you’re groping for clarity in the dark, invariably life sends a mentor. It dawned on me this morning that it’s just about […]
Just In the Next Room
Losing my mom has been a bitter-sweet experience. While I know she’s gone, I see my mother so much around me every day I feel like she’s not gone, she’s just in the next room. I see her elegance and grace in my daughter, Jillian. I see her thoughtfulness and generosity in my daughter Laurel. […]
Starting Over at 51
Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 51, and I’m starting over AGAIN. I received over 400 birthday wishes on Facebook and with every one of them, I realized I’d trade all the birthday wishes in the world for one person who truly loved and cared about me, right here in person, to spend my birthday […]
