The Twelve Days of Christmas
Merry Christmas! I have a gift for all my readers, a book of reflections to help you focus on continuing the Christmas celebration for all twelve days. Based on an almost certainly inaccurate but still fun interpretation of the traditional carol’s lyrics, this...
Grieving Together: Review and Giveaway
Ten years ago, I lost our sixth and last baby in an early miscarriage, a baby who was planned, wanted, loved. I’ve never written about it here. In a very dark period of my life during which I lost first the baby, then my dream home, and finally almost every...
A Knoxville Fall Weekend
Remember summer? It seems so long ago! Not the hot part–that lasted well into October here–but the not-being-in-school-and-having-daily-adventures part, which ended for us in early August. We’ve had adventures since then, if not so many; what I lack...
Sydney and Calvin Have a Baby: A Book Review
One of the coolest things about blogging is getting free books in exchange for sharing my honest opinion of them here. As I might have mentioned, I love books. I love them so much that I have big stacks of them and so sometimes I don’t review them as quickly...
Book Review: Pope Francis, Builder of Bridges
It is a secret to no one who knows me, whether on social media or in real life, that I love Pope Francis. So when I was offered the opportunity to review a picture book about him, I jumped at it. I didn’t jump on the reviewing part quite as quickly as I...
Pink Salt Riot
Kindred Forest Co
Catholics Online
Life in Every Limb on Facebook
"My parents have been making life easier for me my whole life. And given the chance, I intend to do the same for their grandchildren."My parents have been making life easier for me my whole life. And given the chance, I intend to do the same for their grandchildren.![]()
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Not "easy.” My parents did not overprotect me. They did not swoop in to solve all my problems for me. They did not try to shield me from real life. They did not try to make life artificially painless.![]()
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But they made life easier. They still do.![]()
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When I text them and ask, "Do you know where I can get some good boxes to use for charitable clothing donations?" my mom shoots back, "We've got some in the attic. I'll bring them for you." And then they show up in the back seat of my car in the church parking lot. (The boxes, not my parents.)![]()
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When I'm pretty sure I've blown out the gears on my hand mixer while making a double batch of caramel buttercream, I send it (the mixer, not the buttercream) to my dad to confirm its demise, which he does...and then an hour later, an article about "best hand mixers including some that can handle bread dough" shows up in my email in-box.![]()
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When my husband and I needed backups to get busy children from where they were to where they needed to be, with dinner and a stop at home to change clothes in between, my parents jumped into the gap and kept things humming along.![]()
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They've made life easier by doing things for me that I can do for myself. (I can get my own boxes.)![]()
They've made life easier by doing things for me I can't do for myself. (I can't add a new outlet on our enclosed front porch to plug in the string lights. But my dad can. And did. Thanks, Dad.)![]()
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I hope with all my heart to follow in their footsteps.![]()
I intend to lighten my big kids' loads. I intend to fill in some gaps. I intend to smooth some rough edges. I intend—as much as it's within my power and for my children's good—to do what has been done to and for me. I intend to repay my parents forward.![]()
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At some point, there may be a switch. I know grown children who are now doing all they can to make life easier for their parents who can no longer make life easier for them. This is not easy at all. It is the hardest thing they've ever done. These children are trying to make life easier for parents whose minds or memories or bodies or spirits are failing. They are trying to repay love backward...to do what was done for them to and for the people who did it.![]()
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Too, I know so many grown children who do not have a story of life made easier to tell.![]()
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They have parents who made (and make) life harder for them. My heart breaks and aches for them. If this is you, my heart breaks and aches for you.![]()
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But as parents ourselves, we are still writing our stories with our children. We still have the chance to earn this telling by them: "My parents made life easier for me."![]()
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This is not enabling. This is not co-dependence. This is not stunting growth. This is relationship. This is love. This is life. It's rarely easy for long. But lived together, it can be made easier.![]()
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@Guilty Chocoholic Mama
Friends, I know Shannon personally and this need is very real. Please donate even a small amount if possible, and share this post. Thank you!
Help Treat Phoenix's Brain Inflammation, organized by Susan Ciancio
gofund.me
Hi! My name is Susan, and I want to share a friend's story. I've known Shannon ... Susan Ciancio needs your support for Help Treat Phoenix's Brain Inflammation
In a world obsessed with social media, many of us judge our worth by how often our posts are liked or shared by others, hoping to go viral, obsessively checking our phones throughout the day when we think we have shared something exceptionally profound or amusing. That does not exactly predispose us toward humility!
Seeking Humility in the Age of Social Media
lifeineverylimb.com
Many of us judge our worth by how often our posts are liked or shared by others. That does not predispose us toward humility!
Once again, September 5 and Labor Day coincide, which takes me back to eleven years ago . . .
What Labor Day Means to Me | Life in Every Limb
lifeineverylimb.com
When I was a little girl, Labor Day meant watching Jerry Lewis, waiting to hear our names called out on the telethon for our donation. It meant fried chicken and deviled eggs and buttermilk ice cream ...
Good analysis to share with anyone you know who is pushing the narrative that Dobbs is about anything more than repealing Roe: ![]()
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"Nobody can predict the future with certainty, but we can look at the Dobbs opinions and context and say that while some of their arguments (arguably) and Justice Thomas’s concurrence (inarguably) cast doubt on the soundness of the rulings in Griswold and Obergefell at first blush, there are multiple reasons to think that ordinary stare decisis makes the cases very distinguishable in principle, logic and politics."
No, the Supreme Court isn’t coming for gay marriage or contraception next
www.americamagazine.org
Clarence Thomas wants the Supreme Court to revisit same-sex marriage. But the majority opinion in Dobbs, and the comments of the other justices, suggest that he is alone.
