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Moving and Memories
My husband and I are moving this week, and I’ve been reflecting on past moves and life in general. As a child, my family and I moved frequently. It was a struggle to connect and make new friends at school, and I often felt like an outsider. And as much as I hated the constant…
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Other People’s Priorities
Let’s talk about priorities. We all juggle them in our daily lives. The word is so commonplace that I almost felt foolish looking up its definition in Merriam-Webster. Two fascinating insights jumped out at me: something given or meriting attention before competing alternatives, and superiority in rank, position, or privilege. The priorities we manage come…
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Reflections
Lately, I’ve been thinking back to the fall of 2018, when my now ex-husband and I sold our home in Central Texas and moved to the West Coast. We had both dreamed of living in a milder climate for years, and in October 2018, we finally made it happen. I ended that marriage four years…
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Surround Yourself With Inspiration
Typically, February is a challenging month. Most of us are ready for winter to be done. Meanwhile, winter throws its weight around and lets us know it’s still in charge. But this February was different. A few months before, I had enrolled in Steve Harrison’s National Publicity Summit. My debut book, Gray Divorce: My Life…
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Burnout
Is it too early in the new year to feel burned out? I’ve been pondering this question for a few weeks now. 2025 was not only a full year personally – all good things – but it also served up a very challenging project at work. And while things have settled down somewhat, there’s a…
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A Leap of Faith
A few months ago, our neighbor planted several trees. Over time, I’ve watched as the trees were watered, mulched, and generally fussed over, yet one of them has struggled while the other two have thrived. Why the difference, when they’ve all received the same gentle, diligent care? Perhaps it’s the tree itself. The ailing one…
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New Beginnings
For every new significant beginning, something else must end first. We know this, and yet we fight it. We fight the loss of the familiar, even when the familiar isn’t in our best interest. We crave new beginnings, then wage our own personal war against them. Think of New Year’s resolutions. We make them because…
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Keeping Up Appearances
Yesterday I stood outside on the deck, listening to the rustle of the sycamore leaves in the wind. The sun was bright, and the only signs it was a winter day in Texas were a nip in the air and the withering leaves still clinging to the trees. Time is going by so quickly. I…
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Divorce
Divorce, according to the dictionary, is the act of legally ending a marriage. It’s also defined as disunion – a lack of unity. I don’t personally know anyone who ever went into a marriage with the intention of not staying married. Instead, we get married because we feel we have found someone we’d rather not…
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Writing
Writing has been in my blood since I was a child. One of my earliest memories of getting lost in a book was in second grade, when my teacher read aloud The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. I remember sitting on the floor in the reading circle, feeling like I was part of…