Tag: life
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A Love Like That

What is it that makes marriage work? What makes love last? There are probably a million different answers to these questions. Depending on the marriage, depending on the love. But the only marriage I know is mine, the only love my husband’s. So in the weeks leading up to this day, our sixth anniversary, the…
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Home Grown

My younger daughter’s chubby baby fingers dug in the rich, dark soil as my older daughter’s tiny toes balanced carefully on the wooden beam that extended across our small raised garden bed. I sat watching, anxiously, as they crawled and danced and wove between delicate climbing tendrils of a cucumber plant, wide, overpowering leaves of…
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To the Momma Who is Trying Her Best

To the Momma who feels like she’s the only one who doesn’t have this motherhood thing figured out. You are not alone. To the Momma who wanders through the day mopping up messes and wondering what she has accomplished. You have purpose. To the Momma who spent years pursuing education and career goals, only to…
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To My First Baby on Your Fourth Birthday
Dear Sweet Girl, Has it really been four years since you first entered our world? Four years since I held the heavy wetness of your small body against my own? Was it really so long ago that you transformed my entire world and made me a Momma? I can’t believe it. And yet, I can.…
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These First Five Years
“I vow to lift you up when you are down and soar with you when you are in the clouds,” he said. “I vow to always rise to your challenge and strive daily to better myself and our relationship,” I responded. On this day five years ago, my husband and I threw these promises, these…
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The Hard Goodbye
Since deciding to make this latest move, I’ve realized that my excitement for this next chapter has been tempered with a twinge of sadness. I noticed that I was dragging my feet on preparing, and as I packed it was with heavy hands and a heavy heart. Even though we felt this move is the…
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On the Move Again
Question: What is more fun than moving twice in six months with two young kids? Answer: Anything. And yet, this is what our family is doing. Unpacked boxes still decorate the floor of our current house as the real decor remains un-hung. A short four months ago, we packed up our humble home and hauled…
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Yia-Yia’s Gifts
It was a late summer day; one of those days where the heat and humidity seem to hang in the air like a heavy blanket. I’d had two small sweaty children clinging to me for hours on end and was looking forward to a refreshing break. To say the previous few months had been challenging…
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What Love Looks Like
On this day six years ago, on the bank of a lush green peninsula with the Tennessee River weaving its way around us, my (now) husband nervously dropped to one knee and asked me to marry him. My heart raced. Excited as I was about the expectation of this day, I was stunned in this…
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In Defense of Weeds
I have a confession. I secretly love weeds. This is a statement that, as a newly minted gardener, I’ll probably be regretting in a few weeks. But for now, I welcome the wild weedy flora scattered about. Since, historically, my thumb has not proven to be green, I love the tiny buds and blooms that…
