The Stinky and Dirty Show   My four-year-old grandson, Brooks, has been experimenting with sophisticated phrases—statements like follow my lead. I’ve watched enough “Stinky and Dirty” with him to recognize where he’d picked them up. The other day, Brooks said to me, “Gaga, trust me with this.” So wise, so simple.   Trust me with … Read more

  Riden like Biden   If my neck wasn’t stiff I would have shaken my head. The news alert that had just popped up on my phone yesterday stated that President Biden fell off his bike. “That guy—such a copier. Always trying to steal my thunder,” I said this to no one around. According to … Read more

  Jagged Little Coast   Just waking up in this little Airstream beauty on the last night of our “Celebrate 38” week-long tour and trying desperately not to panic that I couldn’t find my mom’s bracelet. I’d already been racking my brain the last few days over a misplaced—or lost–favorite jacket. Still haven’t found that. … Read more

  “I got you.” “I know.” A moment of: Grace. Protection. Honor. Respect. Others-serving, not-self. Vessel for love. “Whatever  is true, whatever is lovely…”   I just peeked at my sweet birthday messages on social media and want to say thank you for the love, before, during, and after my birthday. On this particular birthday, … Read more

When Selling Kidneys Isn’t Enough   This unspeakable story was spoken on the news yesterday. Later that day, I attempted to speak about the unspoken. Sharing with my husband, John, who hadn’t seen the clip yet, I came up short articulating what I felt—the paradigm shift that had happened for me that afternoon when I … Read more

Mr. Grace Face A few days ago, I got one of those Facebook memory reminders (“On this day 10 years ago”). It was a post I’d written about how thankful I was that I have a husband who would go out late on a Saturday night to buy me boloney just because his wife had … Read more

Precarious Little Pit The description on my Strava app reads, “Stoked that it was the first time ever to get up and out (without stopping) of a tough-nut-to-crack, corkscrewy, rollercoastery precarious little pit on my fav whiting trail.” I didn’t have the space to add that I didn’t even try. I’d never been able to … Read more

What’s on Your Soul/What’s in Your Soul? I had just watched a viral video of an anti-masking couple who’d gone into a Eugene, Oregon bakery, it seemed, with evil “just looking for trouble” intent. X-ing out of the browser, I thought, has America just completely lost her mind? Her heart? With the hate of the … Read more

I made a mistake. Driving s l o w l y  in front of the CVS, I was checking the sign on the door to my left to see if the drug store had opened yet.  Because I was a little distracted, I failed to see–and yield–to the woman standing behind a person in a … Read more

I took this photo from the summit of our camo-green-painted, securely-fastened-to-a-tree extension ladder in our backyard. I love biking, but sometimes I throw in a step-climbing workout to mix things up. A funny thing happened one day this summer when my daughter, Cassie, was in town. Unbeknownst to me—she happened to be within earshot on … Read more