We Are the Sum of Our Choices

I spent most of the day yesterday pulling weeds in my backyard. The weeds had grown tall, closing in on the trees and bushes that are...

It's Mother's Day. The one day each year that is dedicated to celebrating the massive amount of work it takes to be a mom. I'm not just...

I was given a flowering plant on the first day of my new job, not quite a month ago. I killed it already. I had it sitting on my desk,...

My lawn may not look like it, but it's bumpy. Ruts and holes where the rabbits (or maybe chipmunks) like to burrow underground. A few...

There's a stretch of highway in my town that has a stoplight every few blocks. If you hit it just right and they all turn green, you're...

On Friday after work, when I logged off and walked into my bathroom, this is what I saw. The empty bowl from my breakfast of yogurt and...

Five years ago, I wrote a blog about Signs. It was a tough time in my life. I was caught up in work stress and logistics with the kids...

Green beans. When my boys started eating solid foods, green beans were one of the first things we introduced. And they loved them! All I...

My heart was pounding in my chest. Had been for hours that day. Something wasn't right. In more ways than I even recognized at that...

I stood there in front of the stove, spoon in one hand, tongs in the other. Flipping the pork chops and stirring the rice at the same...

Blankets of white. As far as we can see. No idea what's underneath our feet. Or if there are obstacles in our path that might cause us...

It was a cold, windy, rainy run that night. There was standing water on the streets in downtown Las Vegas. Our running shoes soaked up...

I'm not Irish. But Ireland is high on my list of places I want to travel to in my life. The castles, the lush green countryside, the...

I like things to line up nicely. Clean lines, evenly spaced, ideally in pairs or sets of three where there is a logical pattern. If I see...

Sometimes it can be hard to see the sun shining through the trees. But other times, it's right there. So clear in front of you that you...

Close to 9 inches of snow fell last weekend where I live in Wisconsin. A blanket of white, bright against the sunshine, welcomed me...

To life. And the ability to wake up another day and breathe. To the opportunity to learn something new at nearly every turn. To the...

The path we were hiking was snow-covered and slippery in spots, but mostly flat and smooth. The white of the snow glistened in the...

When I get my nails done, I usually choose a nice, stable, solid color. There's a beautiful purplish wine that I gravitate toward most of...

It's always an adventure when I come home from grocery shopping and open the back of my SUV. No matter how carefully I drive, things...