At the Outer Banks beach house where Charming vacationed as a child, I realized I'd been planning my future children's lives based on my own childhood. Sometimes home isn't a place—it's a person.
When Students Write Bucket Lists and God Writes Mine: A Teacher’s November Rain
My sophomores wrote bucket lists while Bobby McFerrin sang "Don't Worry, Be Happy," but I couldn't stop thinking about my upcoming marriage and Paul's letter to the Philippians. Sometimes the best lesson plans teach the teacher.
My Student Anna: When God Answers Prayers with a Teenage Helper
I prayed for strength to survive losing my second yearbook class. God sent me Anna, a seventeen-year-old who thinks like me and holds up my arms like Moses at the Red Sea. Sometimes prayers are answered in INFJ teenagers.
Living with ADHD While Planning a Wedding: Why I Can’t Focus
Save the Date cards sit unfinished while my mind jumps between yearbook deadlines and Charming's need for attention. Sometimes being newly diagnosed with ADHD explains everything—and complicates everything else.
Young Beauty Taught Me to Freewrite—Then My Niece Asked If I’d Live Far, Far Away
Following my student's advice to let thoughts flow, I ended up crying under pine trees with Katarina. When I explained Auntie La La would live with Charming after the wedding, her chin quivered: 'You mean you're going to live far, far away?' Some Yellow Brick Roads lead us away from those we love.
Why My Timeline for Life Keeps Looking Like a Playdough Giraffe
I planned to marry at 22 and have kids by 28, just like my mom. Here's what Einstein's theory of relativity taught me about trying to control time—and why my evening glory bloomed in October.
From Fort Monroe Beach to Duck Methodist Church: Finding Our Perfect Wedding
Charming proposed again with my real ring on a pier in the Outer Banks, then we found the white church with a steeple I'd dreamed of since childhood. Sometimes God writes fairy tale endings in the most perfect settings.
The Wizard of Oz Skit That Taught Me About Saying Goodbye
Three weeks after getting engaged, I was directing a faculty skit instead of planning my wedding. Here's what playing Dorothy taught me about home, community, and letting go.
Surviving Hurricane Season: When Teaching and Wedding Planning Collide
Engaged to my dream man but drowning in Homecoming prep and yearbook deadlines. Sometimes life's best stories require weathering multiple storms at once.
Why I Stopped Waiting for My Life to Begin: Lessons from an Engagement
When you realize you want to spend forever with someone, you want forever to start now. But what if the waiting room is actually part of the gift?
Writer's Growth 