When Death Comes Close

When Death comes close, all things change, even if only for a little while. I type this at the close of our Sassafras’ final day of life.  She was a sweet black and white indoor kitty that lived here for 16 years as a gentle and quiet princess who loved Paul and tolerated me.  After […]

Plain Folks Bravery

Bravery is a lot like beauty, it seems.  It’s in the eye of the beholder. We quickly apply it to soldiers who stand firm or fight, whichever is required.  We apply it to firefighters and policemen who don’t shrink or shirk in times of duty.  Those who face a devastating death of someone they love […]

Resonation, part 1

“That really resonated,” we say.  What does that mean? It’s a powerful word, really.  It can mean to fill with a deep reverberating sound.  It can mean to evoke or suggest images or emotions.  And it can simply mean “meets with someone’s agreement.” It brings to my mind sympathetic vibrations, such as when one violin […]

Mamaw Wisdom

I did not have a Mamaw.  I had Granny, and I had Grandmother.  But “mamaw” was for those who lived outside the city limits.  Mamaws were who my friends went to spend a Saturday with, shelling peas or shucking corn.  Maybe they even had a feather bed or a loft in a barn or something […]

As God is My Witness, part 1

This isn’t really about Scarlett O’Hara, though Gone With the Wind is a book I continue to love.  It’s about the God phrases we use to make us feel better in uncomfortable situations. It’s about wondering how we deal with pain.   So what are these phrases? you’re wondering.  I’m glad you asked. #1. “God won’t give […]

Couldn’t Say It

I remember an episode on Happy Days from many years ago when the Fonz literally couldn’t get certain words to come out of his mouth.    “I was rrr….”, he attempted. “I was ruuuueeeng”.  Then “I was not!” Why is it so hard to admit to being wrong?  Why is it even harder for some people […]

Too Deep for Words

From time to time it happens that we find ourselves reacting strongly to a thing — a voice, a memory, a circumstance, an idea, a person — on a level we just don’t get.  It’s illogical, out-of-proportion.   Consider a man, middle-aged, successful, basically happy with his life, who sees his stooped, fragile, withered, white-haired father […]

Using God

My few years of life on earth in a mostly homogenous small town gave me no context into which to place the event of my mother’s death when I was 11 years old.  We knew she had cancer, of course, but my father had dealt with the terminal status of it the way he thought […]

Quality of Life

“So these say ‘quick grits’,” he says.   “When I used to make them for myself, I just put them in a bowl, stirred boiling water into it, and they were ready.” “That’s because you used ‘instant’ grits, and these are ‘quick’ grits,” I say. The husband has been on a grits kick lately.  I […]

Why can’t we laugh?

Recently I saw where Ricky Gervais mused about how the BBC version of The Office TV series would not be allowed today.  Just 20 years ago (it aired 2001 – 2002), people weren’t so scared to say funny things. The comedy of both the BBC and American versions of The Office is that the boss […]