This Road Home

I am sitting here drinking my after-dinner detox tea. I also call it my “hippie” tea. It’s got burdock root and dandelion fuzz and probably some sort of ground-up insect. It’s not terrible tasting if you put enough honey and lemon in it, and it obviously does what it’s supposed to do.  This stuff is good- it helps my liver and kidneys clean out all the toxins that build up in my body that keep things from working as well as they should.

With each sip I’m reflecting proudly on this good thing I am doing for my body. But I am also thinking about how I wish that there was a fix for detoxing my spirit that were as easy as sipping a cup of tea.

Continue reading “Soul De-tox” →

For several years, my Daddy and I had summers off together. He was living the dream of his last career as a paraprofessional at Perry Middle School, and I was working in various positions in the Christian School ministry field.  Every morning, he would get up early with Mama. They would have coffee, read the paper, and she would fix a bowl of grits or oatmeal for their breakfast. Then she would go to work.

By the time I got up, Daddy would have brewed a second pot of coffee and would have started working his way through it. Some days I would get up and he would be in the bathroom getting ready for the day. Some days he would be sitting on the porch with his coffee. And some days, he would have gone to town.

Wherever I might have found him on those balmy summer mornings, our ritual was always the same. Because, you see, these were the seasons of The Second Breakfast. Continue reading “Second Breakfast” →

Recently I discovered a Facebook group of fellow Hashimoto’s sufferers. I have been reading with heavy heart the posts from people who are trying to figure out their bodies in light of all of the havoc that this disease introduces. So much frustration, desperation, determination, and defeat tinged with sweet, and sometimes too brief, moments of success. Continue reading “Inside-Out” →

This morning, Fiona Fred had a little potty accident. Now, look at that word, “little.” That is a relative word. It is used when comparing things. This morning’s “little” potty accident is little in relation to, say a buffalo coming into the house and having a potty accident. Continue reading “Cat-Poop-Astrope” →

My friend Ashley has the greatest laugh I’ve ever heard! She has an infectious laugh filled with exuberance and bursting at the seams with pure delight. Now, her laugh is also pretty loud. Our friend Adam chides her for that and I sometimes want to punch him when he does because laughter is such a necessary thing in this life. And also, I really love her laugh! Continue reading “Find Your Laugh” →

One day we will blink and this life we know will be over.

While we still have a chance, let’s love with a pure heart, because only a pure heart can break through the darkness in our world.

Let’s laugh with the joy and gladness that comes from lasting goodness, and not merely passing fancy.

Let’s give with a generous hand that is always opened wide to let go of the temporary and make room for the eternal.

Let’s: Cry with the bereaved and broken…feed the hungry…soothe the troubled soul.

Let’s write our stories on the moments we have, and imprint our pages on the lives of those who will come behind us.

Autoimmune disease often comes with the nasty little issue we like to call “chronic pain.” Man, do I hate that stuff. About three years ago, I discovered a treatment for autoimmune disease that is rarely prescribed. Continue reading “Take Your Medicine” →