Why? I struggle with Uggs left everywhere in the house, dirty dishes left on the counter, and the magnitude of laundry generated each week. But this day I care less. I have lost my grandmother. She took me to church. She made cornbread salad. She worried. She collected Precious Moments figurines. She led a family […]
How do I teach a thirteen-year-old Haitian daughter the difference between earning something and surviving? Wait a minute. Maggie’s knee is bleeding. She just learned to ride her bike and things went a bit awry. “What Emma?” “Why do you want to go float the river in Townsend with a friend when you swore you […]
Date: June 1, 2014 at 1:51 PM Location: 36.0845° N, 83.9675° W Weather: 81° Cloudy Sitting in the kitchen watching the kids enjoy the pool. Smiles. Thousands of awkward jumps from the diving board. Planning a moto-trip with friends. Attempting to convince them 250 miles per day is doable. The Blue Ridge Parkway in […]
I have returned once again to the Mancave. “Frozen” has finished. Girls tucked. I recline in my sitting chair. Let it snow. Let it go. Let…. This night is different. ALL are here. The past week has been unlike any. Hours spent in the back of a truck seeking elusive documents, hours spent struggling to […]
Driving the kids to school on another Friday. “Goodbye.” “Make good choices.” “Love you.” Now off to work. As I head South on Oak Ridge Highway my eyes are drawn toward a yellow break in the clouds. A white puffy jet stream streaks through the sky. As I slow for a red light I realize […]
Lenia still isn’t home. She waits on a mountain in Haiti sleeping in a room with eight friends, going to school for “most” of a day, and wonders if Abby and I are serious when we say “You are going to come and live with us.” It was our wish that she would join Abby […]
