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Category: Family

Moving Past the Pain

I had only been out of the room for a few minutes taking care of something in another part of the house. When I walked back into our wood-paneled family room, there was a track meet going on. The event was hurdling, and the 3-month-old baby on his blanket was the hurdle! I watched dumbstruck as my 5, 4, and 3-year old each took off in a sprint from one corner, leaped over the baby,…

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Stories almost missed

I live in the neighborhood I grew up in as a child. Many of my neighbors moved here when my parents lived in this house on Homewood Road. The Wards, the Kushners, the Hanlons, and the Kiorpes, knew my parents well. They knew me too. Several of these neighbors have gotten to see my children grow up also. It has been 20 years since we moved into the neighborhood. Recently on my walks around the…

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How does change work?

Little drops of water, Little grains of sand, Make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land. Thus the little minutes, Humble though they be,  Make the mighty ages of eternity. Julia Fletcher The humble minutes have evaporated into the big 3-4 for Gary and my wedding anniversary this week! Our friend John told us that at the altar, there are two perspectives. The groom is hoping his bride stays just the way she is, and the bride is anticipating all…

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Cold vs Cancer

Friends are Friends Forever part 2 of 3 A year into our time on Oahu, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I was also 16 weeks pregnant with our seventh child. I was grateful then that I had a year to make friends and weave our family into the Navy community before I had to make a “withdrawal” from those friend-accounts. Looking back I can see now that, I hadn’t yet learned what Henri Nouwen…

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A Greekish Gunther Tragedy

When my children were young, we had a very generous neighbor who gave each of our NINE children bookstore gift cards at Christmas. We were booklovers, and the gift was a generous $25 per person. This was pre-Amazon. Shopping for the selection and purchase meant going in-person to the bookstore. I don’t recall why I felt the rush to go while the Christmas holidays were still in full swing. Likely I knew that the longer…

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