Selling a House with St. Joseph...

Sep 4, 2015 by

Selling a House with St. Joseph

Let me begin by saying that I’m crazy. I know I am. I’m spiritually eccentric, can be socially awkward, and nearly always err on the side of the less than pragmatic. My head full of curly hair lives in the clouds while I only have one foot — maybe even just a toe — on the ground. Now, with that out of the way … As you may or may not know, my family has undergone tremendous change. After over a year, my parents have moved out of the home we shared and into assisted living. This new development has invited great practical and emotional upheaval, not the least of which has included selling our home. About our home; blood, sweat, tears. That’s what my husband and I invested to renovate it and make it inhabitable for...

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Random, Awesome Stuff

Jun 3, 2015 by

Random, Awesome Stuff

I saw this on my walk today: It was some random guy doing awesome stuff. He didn’t know I was watching. He was blissfully unaware that he had an audience comprised of my dog and me and my iPhone. He was just doing some random, awesome stuff. He was all planking and push-uping, and planking again, just because he could, and just because it was awesome, and just because Lake Washington was the exact and perfect place to be random and awesome and just because he said so. Today, this nameless, faceless, random, and  awesome dude was my hero. Today, this balding guy was my permission slip to be random and awesome simply because those things are really cool to be. No one has to know. No one has to see. No one has...

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Difficult Conversations

May 30, 2015 by

Death is hard to talk about. I might argue that its made even more difficult when talking about it with people you love, like say your parents, who are feeling especially contemplative about their own lives and imminent transitions. Within the past three months, my parents have lost upwards of five or six friends to death. Classmates. Former neighbors. Former church members. One life at a time, their community shrinks, and the number of friends they can call, laugh with, remember with becomes smaller and smaller. Recently, the conversations we have had about the business of dying have included finances, funeral arrangements, and other special requests. I’ve listened to the details of their hearts’  desires with stinging eyes and a quivering bottom lip, much like right now. It’s a part of living, death. Dying is natural and we will all...

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It Can Get Foggy

Dec 7, 2014 by

This morning I had the distinct privilege of watching the fog roll onto Lake Washington. From my office windows, I saw thick, soupy clouds unfold themselves from the south and blanket Mt. Rainer and everything in front of her in silvery white. The glassy lake, once a picture of calm, looked like a cauldron concealing magic of every sort. Fog. It settles in and blinds us, leaving us disoriented and unable to see those landmarks we’ve come to rely upon to navigate our lives, inform our decisions, establish our goals, move forward. Temporarily, of course. By its very nature fog is fleeting, transitory, and lasts only as long as conditions are favorable to sustain it. Fog passes, lifts, and vanishes as quickly as it appears. I’m learning a lot...

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