“Nana, how much do I weigh?” I turned to see that 4-year-old Brileigh was holding a yardstick up next to her body. I smiled and explained, or tried to, that if she wanted to measure her weight, she’d need to step on the scales. Height is measured in inches, I said, and the yardstick would […]
What’s the difference between a rut and a groove? Nothing. When you look up each of these words in the dictionary, the first definitions are identical: a narrow channel or path in a surface. They appear to be synonymous. But you hardly ever use “groove” in the same way as you do “rut”. In fact, […]
I have a new military strategy that I’m thinking of sharing with the Pentagon. It’s like this: Whenever our country is in conflict with another, we unleash one hundred 18-month-old children into the enemy camp. Hear me out. This is biblical. God confused Israel’s enemies several times in history. We studied one in Exodus recently […]
Every morning when Dennis and I are at our kitchen table eating our Special K and reading the newspaper, we hear a familiar sound. It’s a mockingbird sitting on our chimney going through his morning ritual – singing a through-composed song from start to finish. Because the chimney feeds into the fireplace in our kitchen, […]
I am a word geek. I admit it. I like to study word origins. That’s why I wrote a book called The Words We Sing that came out last year. I took 50 words and phrases that we sing as lyrics at church but hardly use otherwise and defined them in today’s context. (You can […]
Have you ever been to a wrestling match? I don’t mean “rasslin’” like they do on Saturday night at the Farm Center. I’m talking about a legitimate competitive sport recognized by the high school and collegiate associations – and the Olympics. I’m told that there are several styles: Greco-Roman and Free Style among them. I […]
Mama said it this way, “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.” That’s kind of like saying, Don’t jump out of the frying pan into the fire…I think. I’ve never tried either pursuit but I think I get the gist. In a moment of desperation, think before you act. When I was six […]
Our boys wanted roller blades for Christmas one year. Having made several trips to the ER with them already, we talked them out of roller blades and into skateboards. Somehow we reasoned that a skateboard would be a safer choice though I’m still not sure. Come Christmas morning they were thrilled! They had gotten what […]
My 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Woodham, was a saint. She loved to teach and I loved her. She had a delightful laugh and you could see the joy dancing in her eyes when any student accomplished a skill she was teaching them. All we had to do was stay within the lined paper when we […]
I was having lunch with some old friends not long ago. These were OLD friends. By that, I mean we’ve known each other all our lives. We literally grew up together. As expected the table conversation centered on our past. There were a few recollections that were painful but mostly our memories of those days […]