Replacing summer flowers with fall mums, I faced the hardest question: why did I choose divorce? Sometimes you have to pull up dying things to make room for God's chalkboard promise: "Behold, I make all things new."
Relationships
The Selfie I Took in the Storm That Changed Everything
After our perfect second date, I sat on my porch in the hurricane rain and captured something I hadn't felt in years: hope. Here's why I almost didn't write about it.
Single Teacher Falls for Autumn Instead of Prince Charming: Writing My Own Part II
My tenth graders studied fairy tale archetypes today. The damsel needs rescuing; the hero needs a quest. But I mow my own lawn and fix my own electrical sockets. Maybe my Part II is about falling in love with fall instead of falling for a fantasy.
I Untangled My Evening Glories and Ended a Perfect-on-Paper Romance—Both Needed Room to Climb
Like my evening glories wound too tightly around themselves, I burned my arm making dinner for a fourth date with Mr. Perfect Checklist. Sometimes anxiety you can't explain means something needs untangling—even if it means cutting away buds that haven't bloomed yet.
Making a Home for One: How Friends Helped Me Build My Love Bungalow
Preparing my backyard for my nieces' first birthday party, I realized I'd made a house into a home for one. Then I discovered what really makes a house a home—it's not the furniture, it's the love.
My Garden Doubled While I Was Gone—So Did Everything Else I’d Been Too Close to See
After a week in Florida, my begonias had doubled, my roses finally bloomed, and my nieces raced to greet me. I'd been so focused on finding a husband through my microscope lens that I missed the garden already growing: new friendships, family love, and a department head position I never sought.
Every Failed First Date is Ground Cover in My Garden—Bok Tower Taught Me Why
At Bok Tower Gardens, hydrangeas reminded me of Kyle, gardenias of Angela, Spanish moss of matching pink bathing suits with Dad. Each plant held a memory. Then I realized: West Virginia boy with the missing tooth is just Firebush—lots of personality, but wrong colors for my garden.
Why I Refuse to Settle: Garden Lessons About Love and Standards
My shade garden taught me about compromise, but when it comes to choosing a husband, I won't settle for pretty ground cover. Here's why being 'picky' in love is actually wise—and why I'm waiting for the flowers.
My 76-Year-Old Neighbor Gardens with a Walker—And Finally Said What I Couldn’t
Mrs. Washington balances her hose in one hand, walker in the other, tending gardens for sixteen years. When she caught my neighbor dumping his yard waste in front of my house, she gave him the riot act I'd been too polite to deliver. Now her marigolds thrive in shade where they shouldn't—maybe there's a lesson there about taking risks on things that don't look perfect on paper.
Planting Seeds of Hope: What My Garden Taught Me About Dating After Divorce
A friend helped me redesign my failing garden, and suddenly I understood what it really takes to cultivate new love after everything has died.
Writer's Growth 