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Happiness, Wherever You Land
Sunnie, our new puppy, fell head over paws for the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama. She pulled on the leash as we got closer. Once her paws hit the warm sand, she dug furiously, pausing now and then to stretch out as the sand shifted beneath her, cradling her like a memory foam mattress. She […]
Learning to Love My Faithful Buzzards
They’re back — the harbingers of death. I step outside into the twilight and hear the soft rustle of wings. Shadows ride the thermals above me. One descends and lands on the top of a pine tree. Another follows. Soon, our backyard is peppered with dark wings. It’s unnerving. With their keen eyesight, my husband […]
The Joy of Coming Home
I pack the last suitcase and set it near the others with a happy sigh. Gulf Shores, Alabama, offers white-sand beaches, thrilling dolphin sightings, balmy weather, and a chance to play tennis nearly every day. Still, it isn’t home. I miss family, friends, and neighbors. I miss our church, Kiwanis meetings, browsing the shelves at […]
Chasing Spring (and a puppy’s great escape)
Spring has a way of tossing wild possibilities at our feet — the kind that can leave us breathless before we even realize we’ve started running. Gulf waves roll in with a steady hush. The beach stretches empty in both directions. For a moment, everything feels right with the world. Then my four-month-old puppy, Sunnie, […]
The Day My Smile Disappeared
One minute I had a front tooth. The next minute I didn’t. I was standing in the bathroom—not eating, not flossing my teeth—when it suddenly fell out. I truly can’t remember what I was doing seconds before because the shock wiped all other thoughts away. I looked in the mirror, horrified. There are certain dental […]
Beach Hair. Don’t Care
There’s a faint crunch beneath my feet when I walk across the condo floor. My black pants are decorated with sandy paw prints. My hair hasn’t obeyed me for days. And the funny thing is — I don’t care. There’s something about being near the ocean — and on vacation — that lowers expectations. And […]
The Seasons of a Life
I didn’t watch much TV as a child, but I remember the loyal Lassie and Flipper, the dolphin who could solve nearly anything with a flick of its tail. In those shows, problems wrapped up neatly in thirty minutes. Goodness prevailed. As a teen, my TV watching increased, and I became obsessed with That Girl, […]
If this is Utopia, Where’s My Nap?
When I was still teaching, I used to fantasize about retirement. In my imagination, it was a magical land of unlimited, unscheduled time — a bright tunnel of endless hours stretching toward infinity. In that perfect world, I could take a two o’clock powernap every day. The gardens were gloriously weedless, my nails were always […]