“Those are my words”
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Aarrgghh and Ahoy!
I mentioned to Chuck that I thought a Disney cruise would be fun sometime. “Absolutely not,” his typical response to things not his idea. “Do you know how much those things cost?!” Then, early in the summer, the Ramseys told us that they had booked one for October. After we got the kids settled back in school,…
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Because He Lives
At 43 years old, Daddy died suddenly, unexpectedly, and far too young. Mama married him when they were both 19. He was all she had known for 24 years. She had three daughters to finish raising (two in college and one in junior high) and their small business to run. How could she could she…
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Reese’s Poop
Life holds delicious mysteries for mankind to dissect and debate. Often, we prefer stories for which the answers seem to be lost to history. Who built Stonehenge and why? Do Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster exist? Was Atlantis real? What happened to Jimmy Hoffa? Did Wilson eat the poop? Wait . . . I…
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Cheering in the Bathroom
Starla was a pee-wee cheerleader when she was about 5 or 6, so that would make Angie only about 2 or 3. I wasn’t born, so you’ll just have to trust my penchant for other people’s memories, or say I made it up. I’m fine either way. It was Angie’s turn to spend the night…
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Pinch Me, Mrs. Patmore
Mama probably had to mortgage the farm, but she let me spend the spring semester of my junior year in college at the then-new Samford University Study Centre in London, England. (Now it is called the Daniel House.) A Samford professor chaperoned about a dozen students. We took classes through Samford and lived and traveled with…
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Ode to Critters
“I am 18 years old. Can I PLEASE have a bunny?” Emma had begged for a bunny for a decade. “NO! NO! NO!” What was the purpose of a bunny as a pet? She would play with it for a week and then tire of it, and I would be stuck with trying to get…
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Clothes in the Kitchen
Jordan Lee had just decided she wanted to be a girl and moved into her pretty pink bedroom. When JL was born, Starla moved Justin to the twin bed in his room and put JL in the crib. That way, she was able to keep the third bedroom as a guest room for Mama…
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The Little Yellow Rain Boots
He called them “my boats.” Aunt Angie gave them to him for Christmas 1999. She picked them up at a yard sale for about a quarter and thought he might like them. He was 18 months old. He didn’t love them immediately, but day by day, week by week, his love grew until it was…
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And Then They Were 20
Long before we had children, Chuck and I said several times that we thought it would be fun to have twins. After the initial shock of seeing TWO heartbeats on the ultrasound, I looked at him, bewildered, and said, “We knew.” We didn’t know everything, though. Our pre-pregnancy twins were named Phillip and Paden. Back…
