Hello and HAPPY Friday! I usually don't land in your inbox so late in the week, but I promise I have a good reason. Today, (in)courage has published a piece I wrote and I'm wasting NO TIME in sending you over to their slice of the internet to read it! I'm so excited. I love the (in)courage community and I bet you will, too. (Sign up here to receive free daily notes from (in)courage, sent right to your inbox!) Need a snippet to whet your palette? I get it. Read below! (Or head straight to my . . .
Living Vows: A Birthday Toast
We are breaking from our regularly scheduled blog programming because TODAY is Darren’s birthday! My Darren—my husband, my teammate, my closest friend. I often tell him that he’s my “best part’a life”—and I really, really mean it. I can’t believe I get to be partnered up with him on this wild journey. Leading up to our wedding in August of 2015, I wrestled with my vows to Darren. I could write them, of course, but speaking them to him, with nearly 200 friends and family bearing witness, . . .
A Giraffe’s Birth: Miracles Inside Miracles
It seems like all eyes are on April these days. You know April—the incredibly pregnant giraffe who gets the least private birthing room possible. For days, people have been tuning into the webcast, hoping their timing is such that they’ll be able to watch April birth the world’s newest giraffe. I haven’t watched any of the footage, mostly because, BEEN THERE, DONE THAT. I watched a giraffe being born decades ago and I feel like I’m just sort of “good” in that department . . .
On Strong Shoulders
“You,” my Mom looks at me with a blend of certainty and empathy in her face, “are so much like me.” “Moooom,” I whine as I roll my eyes, “I knooooow.” I couldn’t possibly have kept track of how many times I’ve heard my Mom tell me this in my 30+ years. Typically, it wasn’t a welcomed comment on my end, probably because my Mom usually tells me about our similarities when I’m being stubborn; in the depths of my stubbornness is not the time for me to ponder generational resemblances, . . .
Post-Vacation Guest Posts
I'm baaaaack! My husband and I returned home to dark clouds and snow after a gorgeous week in sunny Cancún, Mexico. It was as if Reality slapped our cheeks, looked us in the eye, and firmly instructed: "WAKE UP, KIDS. VACATION IS OVER." So that was rude. Before getting back into regularly scheduled programming over here, I want to share a couple of posts that were published elsewhere while I was away. I'd love for you to read, comment, share, let me know your thoughts, etc. First, . . .
When the Cape Falls
In 6th grade, I tried out for the dance squad at my junior high school. The coaches taught us a choreographed routine, and then we had to perform it in front of a panel of judges the following day. In the horrifying case that we forgot a part of the dance, we were instructed to smile and bounce in place until we could jump in on the next part of the routine. I literally smiled and bounced my way through the entire two and a half minute routine. The whole dance moved so quickly, that once I . . .