Don’t Should All Over Yourself

One of the most dangerous words in the English language seems innocuous enough, but, trust me, it’s a dangerous one: should. Despite its danger, I am fairly certain it’s a word many of use more regularly than we ought. And when we do, we use it to inflict some serious...

Lend Me Your Ear

When I was in high school, I remember having to memorize certain things for my English class, at least two of them being lengthy passages from the Bard himself, William Shakespeare. If pressed, there is no way I could recite them now. That being said, I do recall the...

The Lives We Tend

Like many folks, our family bought pumpkins last October as part of our fall tradition. We typically buy smaller ones that we can use inside on a tabletop or, in the case of our oldest teen, on a bookshelf in her room (alongside her 80s musician Funko Pop collection)....

Always Connected

Tonight, I volunteered to help with a lock-in for the youth group at the church where my husband is the traditional music director. As an appointed overnight volunteer, I was the second grown up who agreed to stay up all night to keep an eye on all things youth- and...

Uncovering the Essence of Beauty

One of the animated Disney stories from my childhood that I remember more than many is Cinderella. Of course, aside from the rags to riches princess story of the main character, the two characters many of us recall are the two stepsisters, often referred to as the...