Joshua is getting so skeptical in his old age. He lost a tooth the other day and acted nonchalant about it. I asked if he was going to put it under his pillow. He asked a question instead. "Tell me the truth. Have you guys been taking the teeth and putting money under my pillow ( Read more... )

Brian accidentally locked the door behind him when he left for work Friday, and he had the car so my keys were with him. I had to move a rotting bench Dad left behind and steady it under the kitchen window. I used a pocketknife to pry off the screen and then carefully using Brian's motorcycle to steady myself, I clambered through the window. At one ( Read more... )

This afternoon I started labeling the backs of the photos I had printed of our spring break trip to Texas. Brian laid like a fuzzy, sniffling lump in his robe. He asked what it is I write on the back. I said I write the year and what it is, "Texas Spring Break 2014" in this instance, the person's name if someone is in it, their age, and if relevant ( Read more... )

The Christmas tree has proven to be the season's biggest adventure. We were like the legendary mail carriers - through sleet, rain, snow - flooding and frustration - nothing would stop me from forcing Brian and Joshua to come with me to the soggy tree farm. It poured rain the entire time, and I snapped photos while Brian cursed at the tree, the ( Read more... )

I stood in the driveway the other morning and for some reason glanced at the tree in front of the house. It's losing its finery as autumn progresses and revealing its secrets in the process. I saw a dark lump in the branches and walked over to investigate and found myself staring up at a rather big, grand structure made of twigs and mud - a perfect ( Read more... )

Where does the story of a surgery start? With all the medical jibber jabber, the step by step experience or waking up on a hospital bed writhing in excruciating pain? I don't recall anything between Doctor Collis lifting my arm onto a padded bar and then the pain ( Read more... )

Joshua ran to grab his net as he anticipated a bout of crawdad hunting, and I drove us to the nearby forested park. We walked to our favorite spot by the creek and found an old man smoking on the bank and yelling at his dog. He kept trying to talk to us, but we just wanted him to go away. He finally did after the dog ran off into the trees ( Read more... )

Four years! I haven't been on this journal in four years, and I don't know what inspired me to remember it and come back. Too much has changed since then to write about it in a single entry so I won't even try. I'll just move along as if I'd never left and hope that if anyone besides me bothers to read these that there will be enough clues in ( Read more... )

I like my suns broken and sinking. Rising suns are too innocent and fresh, new born. But the dying is dramatic and beautiful. They've been written on. They've seen the day from start to finish - wise and ready to end. Tonight's started with neon bars laid in stripes across the sky. Orange with the slightest tinge of pink. Periwinkle, almost ( Read more... )

Dad woke Joshua and I up this morning, because my alarm failed. We overslept by 40 minutes so we rushed to dress and were late to school, but because we were late we saw a beautiful tawny hawk perched on the school yard fence. So in that respect, our timing was perfect. We crept closer to it, but it caught our advance in its round, dark eye and ( Read more... )