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I Want to Live Again
This post will make more sense to you if you’ve seen the Frank Capra Christmas classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.” If you haven’t seen it, what exactly have you been doing? I can’t fathom… George Bailey’s life wasn’t glamorous. It was the kind of life you and I live–mostly simple, with moments of miraculous and seasons of struggle. But after George experienced a crisis wherein he found out what it was like to not have that life–to be removed from all he built and loved, he begged his guardian angel to return him to his ordinary existence. “Get me back. I don’t care what happens to me. Get me back…
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If You Decide To…
Did you grow up reading Choose Your Own Adventure books? If not, I’m sorry, because they are amazing. Each book casts you as the protagonist of a thrilling tale, and with every page, you make a choice. “If you decide to hide in the cargo hold, turn to page 16. If you decide to make a run for the hangar, turn to page 23.” You decide to run for it but, hedging your bets, you keep a finger in page 16 just in case your gamble results in capture and game over. Enough turns of the story in, and you’ve resorted to using strips of paper from a Lisa Frank…
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Life’s Game of Seesaw
As promised in a previous post, here is the second of two family narratives I’m sharing. (See the first one here.) I composed this years ago while taking an opportunity to reflect on motherhood. Grandma lived through so much challenge, and she knew what was most important–God, family, service, love. In these things she found her joy. I didn’t get the opportunity as an adult to know Grandma Smith; she died when I was in my first semester of college. I have no memories of heart-to-hearts, no meaning-of-life discussions. What I remember are the songs. One she learned from her mom went like this: “School was just overNo books to…