Couch-surfing turned into a writing retreat when the Crawfords gave me their guest room and aqua desk. Writing about Evan, Chris, and Sue taught me that telling stories makes everyone feel seen, known, and acknowledged.
Summer Shift: When Teacher Becomes Storyteller
On Friday, I woke up a teacher for the last time in the foreseeable future. My classroom is now boxed in my carport storage, an easy fit. The question was what to do with my rolling teacher desk. My principal called it the Cadillac of carts, I called it my classroom on wheels, and my students called it fidget toy one-stop-shopping. I unpacked it in the carport, put the screws back in, looked around at the sea of green and blue country, heard the birds, felt the breeze, and realized I’d unlocked the greatest writing real estate.
What Teaching Troubled Kids Taught Me About My Own Story
For ten months, I chanted with my students: 'This is my life. This is my story. I will love it or regret it based on my daily choices.' It changed us all.
I Used to Be a Wife, a Writer, and 20 Other Things: The Night I Started Writing Again – Re-Post
It's been eight years since I started writing again. When I started this blog and posted for the first time, it was for an audience of two: my mom and God. Reflecting on my concluding thoughts at this point my journey is encouraging. Did it make me a writer? Kind of!
What My Trigger Thumb Surgery Taught Me About Emotional Pain
I waited a year to fix my thumb because I was afraid of surgery. Here's what I learned about the difference between numbing pain and actually healing—and why we need to visit the sad places.
What the Botanical Gardens Taught Me About Leaving Teaching
Walking among mountain laurels with my adopted South Carolina mom, I discovered I might be a hybrid tea rose—capable of blooming two different ways. Here's what garden wisdom taught me about career courage.
When Faith Moves Mountains: A Family’s Prayer Journey Through Medical Crisis (Repost)
Six years ago, my brother P.J. battled an ulcer that sought to make a widow of his wife and leave my nieces and nephew fatherless. My family battled right back in prayer, and God worked a miracle. Today, a similar circumstance reminds me of this story, where I raised an Ebenezer worth revisiting now.
It’s the first night in a week I haven’t been up on the surgical floor at Sentara tracking my brother’s progress. I feel the need to just be still. The air in the evening calm after the afternoon lightning storm rekindles a creative fire dormant in these days spent pacing, swapping updates, and riding the ups and downs of a treacherous terrain.
Just after I posted last Tuesday night, P.J. was rushed to the hospital after vomiting blood. Mom called while I was in the shower the next morning to let me know she was driving down to Hampton. The voicemail chilled my clean skin. She called back while I was getting in the car, unsure where I would be going. “I don’t want you getting in the car,” Mom said. “Your brother might not make it.”
That’s how it began for me, really, though I imagine that each one…
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When Your Body Forces You to Slow Down: Lessons from Hand Surgery
Four hand surgeries in fifteen months taught me that sometimes our bodies know what our minds refuse to accept. Here's what I learned about rest, limits, and listening to what hurts.
Day 30: If Your English Teacher Could Rap – Eminem Meets Heartbreak
I was dreamin' of tomorrow so I sacrificed today... You think there's gold in me, but I'm fractured and weak... In my head, Eminem is rapping these lines about brokenness and second chances.
Day 29: Put them Side by Side – When Your Brain Won’t Stop Thinking
On the phone tonight I successfully carried on multiple conversations... Emily Dickinson had it right, the brain is wider than the sky, high above these telephone lines. An unfinished poem about overthinking everything.
Writer's Growth 