Starting 144 seedlings from scratch, I know exactly what each will become. Watching my student Young Beauty and friends' children, I dream of my own blank slate—but first, Charming has to choose me.
Author: Laura Joy Palma
The Day My Therapist Died and I Lost My Captain: Another Sunset
Dr. Bogin saved my life during my darkest season, and I never got to say goodbye. Here's how a sunset became my way of honoring the man who taught me to think for myself.
Underdressed and Childless: What I Saw in the Bathroom Mirror
At a Wheaton alumni event surrounded by pregnant women in cocktail dresses, I escaped to the bathroom and saw everything I wasn't. Sometimes God meets us in our most envious moments.
The February Beach Day That Saved Me From My Winter of Waiting
I'd been asking God for a sign about motherhood when He gave me a seventy-degree day in February instead. Here's what I learned about footprints in the sand and everyday miracles.
Show Me a Sign: Lessons from The Alchemist
I kept asking God to show me a sign about motherhood until a book about following dreams taught me the wrong question. Sometimes the journey is the treasure.
The Valentine’s Day I Finally Learned to Love Myself
Alone on Valentine's Day, I saw the truth in every romantic memory: I was the only constant. Here's what I wish I'd told my boy-crazy younger self about love.
The Birthday I Spent Crying About the Children I Don’t Have
At thirty-four, I'm officially off my timeline for motherhood. Here's what I learned about grief, biological clocks, and the difference between being broken and being a woman.
Breaking Up and Making Up: When Love Isn’t Enough to Fix Everything
After Charming broke up with me to "free me from my dreams," I realized the problem wasn't him—it was me. Here's how a one-hour breakup taught me that I needed to reclaim the missing pieces of myself.
The Birthday I Realized I Was Living in Two Columns
At almost thirty-four, I'm straddling two lives: one where Charming chooses me and I leave Hampton, one where he doesn't and I stay. Here's why that compromise is slowly killing me.
Foster Care, Teenage Rebellion, and the Prayer That Changes Everything
Watching my future sister-in-law's foster daughter at a Wizards game, I saw myself—the rebellious teen who once told her mother "I hate you." What if the common thread that heals all wounds starts on our knees?
Writer's Growth 