Six pages. That's how long the report from our insurance company ran after the storm came through and worked over our house. I've picked up a whole new vocabulary: RC, which used to just be the soda I drank as a kid, now stands for Replacement Cost. ACV is Actual Cash Value. And "recoverable depreciation" is the money they hold back until you prove you actually did the work. I've learned that my insurance company's feelings about my house are not the same as my feelings about my house. Here's...
5 days ago • 3 min read
I have become, to my surprise, hooked on the FIFA World Cup. It happened fast. One afternoon I turned it on for background noise and by the second half I was standing in my living room yelling at grown men in shin guards. I have watched fans paint their faces and lose their voices for eleven strangers wearing their colors. I watched a pack of Norwegian supporters take over a Mets game last week — flags, chants, the whole coordinated glory of it — while the Cubs quietly dismantled the home...
12 days ago • 2 min read
Last night I streamed an episode of a Star Trek spin-off series. The episode opened with a holographic character watching the sunrise. He says (through narration) that he's watched tens of thousands of these in the course of his life, and nothing about it is new to him anymore. He keeps watching, though, because soon everyone else will wake up, and for them, the sunrise will mean everything it always means to people who are tired and hoping - a chance, a reset, a reason to believe today might...
19 days ago • 2 min read
Sometimes the Beloved Community is plainly seen. We had another storm come through and there was damage to trees and houses. Sadly, many of the crops took a beating. Today, the morning after, as I connect with folks, I see God so clearly in the many ways we help and care for one another. People using social media to offer help. People checking on their neighbors. So many expressing gratitude that it wasn't worse. Many small actions that reveal what's underneath all the daily noise: the love...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
I really despise late night storms. We had one come through a couple nights ago. I was so tired, the waiting-until-it's-late-enough-to-go-to-bed kind of tired. I had just fallen into a deep sleep when the emergency alert came through my phone: tornado warning. Had it been a watch, I would have ignored it and gone back to sleep, but a warning... you best not ignore. My son was upstairs chatting with friends. He shut it down and came downstairs. My husband was relaxing after a long and hot day,...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
"I can't lift my arms." I stood in the kitchen, looking at the kettle and the water pitcher next to it. Somehow, I needed to get water into the kettle to boil for my coffee, and more water into a drinking vessel on the counter behind me, and apparently I was going to have to accomplish it without my arms and hands. I debated spinning and flopping my arms upon the countertop, but then what? I took a couple breaths and summoned the strength to make my arms obey my wishes, but they protested. I...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
The Cubs finally won a ballgame. They’ve had two 10-game winning streaks and they were a blast to watch. Every at-bat felt like anything was possible. A few runs down? No big deal. Then… they lost. And lost again. Ten times they lost. Watching them was brutal. It didn’t matter if the bases were loaded, the inning would quickly end. It felt like it would last fooorrrrreeeeevvvveeeerrrr. There are seasons in life that feel just like that. Brutal. Never ending. You have everything you need, or...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
I need to switch hair gel. The humidity has crashed in uninvited and every year at this time my hair freaks out. What I use throughout the dry winter months is no longer suitable for the hot and humid days. One day, we go about our business with the heat on in the car as we drive to work and the air on when we come home. And then blammo. The switch flips and it's hot. And humid. All day and all night. Some people have knees that alert them to incoming weather, I have hair that tells me...
2 months ago • 3 min read
Some weeks I fill multiple journal pages. Others, I sit tapping my pen on the paper, gazing out the window, searching for something to write. Most of the time, that's actually a good thing. The big ideas, the dramatic events, the overwhelming emotions often arrive on the trouble bus. An ordinary week, one without much to report, is frequently a week in which nothing went terribly wrong. And there is a quiet gratitude in that, a thankfulness for ease and simplicity. Honestly, even when big...
2 months ago • 2 min read