Teaching

back to the pew

Celtic cross with flowers on it.

About two and a half years ago, I stopped going to church. It was convenient because of covid, and we had also moved. It coincided with my husband’s need for a church break, so we did it together. At first, it just felt like rest. After 33 years of intense …

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elevator ride

blue light dark hospital hallway with a figure hunched over at the nurse's station

I felt the love of God click in an elevator on the way up to the 12th floor of Deaconess Hospital in October 2006. My father had been admitted on the first day of October, and I had spent almost every day there since. It was an ordinary elevator, nothing …

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everything is fine

Teeny, tiny rant ahead. Proceed with caution. In recent weeks, I have read an abundance of posts about teacher burnout and compassion fatigue. And I understand, I really, truly do get it. I feel it too. I hit the snooze button twice just this morning. I wake up already tired …

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grief is a bad friend

open door with chair, sun shining through

Grief is a funny thing. I don’t mean funny ha-ha, I mean funny strange. It sneaks up on you. It catches you by surprise. It punches you in the gut and then provides a chair to sit in while you recover. It’s kind of a bad friend, but not too …

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these dreams

fireflies flying out of a jar

“I am going to be an astronomer AND a marine biologist.”  “ I would like to do something in art or fashion.”  “ I’m gonna be on Youtube!” Okay, young squire, what will you DO on Youtube? Blank stare. “I’m just going to be on there and make a million …

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see you later

green field with faded boundary line

Sometimes crossing a field is more than crossing a field. I walked across some squishy grass today with my 5th graders to visit their new middle school. It was a sunny day, but it had been raining a lot in the days before. The kids embraced the freedom and the …

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