the /grace/ between
The grace poured out between.
On Keeping Them Safe
(Trigger warning: Brief mention of suicide and self harm.) When I turned forty, I thought I said goodbye to a decade of being tired. Chuckbob wasn’t even a thought. COVID was months away. // I remember when my Second Son was just weeks old, and I was a fresh mom...
Compassion
DId you know that "tenderness" is a synonym for compassion? I love that word. Tenderness. To be tender is to be kind, sympathetic, merciful. My favorite lullaby as a child-one that still floats through the corners of my memories in my mother's voice-is Tender...
You Are My New Lines.
J Girl and I have some favorite bedtime books. You Are My I Love You is at the top of the list. In this sweet story, a loving parent tells her babe . . . “I am your favorite book. You are my new lines." Slogging through this Army life, we get a practical re-write...
A snapshot of strong {Part 2}: Wendy.
... I am not strong. I am not strong. I NEED my husband. He cannot be gone. Please. Please. PLEASE! I don’t care whose husband it is, just please don’t let it be mine. ... What if it is him? What will I do? Do I know where his Dress Blues are? Wait. Is...
A snapshot of strong {Part 1}: Wendy.
Please, meet Wendy. She is a dear friend with a Little J like mine. This her snapshot of strong. November 4, 2005. Lunchtime. After a bout of nausea I questioned: could I be pregnant? After three years of unsuccessful attempts we had decided to stop trying to get...
Heart Labors.
I would like to take a moment here, before I publish anymore snapshots, to share with you what dawned on me Wednesday night. There are a lot of things I don’t know about this process. ... I don’t know how to tell you what it feels like to be a voice for these...
Part Seven: The Aftermath.
*This is the final installment in this particular piece of our story. Thanks for reading, for encouraging. Now you know a little more about me, about our Army life, about the beginning. Ever and always, my prayer is that you see grace here.* . . . My darkest days...
Part Six: The Funeral.
. . . I tried to email Husband, willed him to call so I could be the one to break the news. Since telepathy is not my strong suit, he did not receive the message, and read about her death on the front page of the Army Times that someone else was reading in the chow...