just when…
Just when I think I have arrived someplace, I find out that I haven’t arrived at all. I have simply briefly landed. This awareness was brought home in session with a client. But yesterday, it came to hit me again.
Lessons from Mom’s Cancer by Amber Runnells, Julie’s daughter
All my life I have been surrounded by strong, intelligent, and driven women. As you can imagine, this was sometimes very intimidating. Everyone, including my mom, seemed to know what they wanted out of life, and I had both lots
Letter to My Daughter
My dear Amber, Our history is rich with letter writing. A letter for going off to college. A letter when conflicts between us needed the reflection inherent in letter writing. Letter writing when I thought cancer might take me from
Letting Go of Rob James
Having emotionally prepared myself for a month, I walked into church yesterday knowing I walked into the epicenter of grief. Yesterday was the last church service to be led by our pastor, Rob James. Rob has enriched our life together
Letting Go of Training Wheels
I was a bit of a precocious child and any family or friends reading this are fervently nodding their heads in agreement. Many of the gray hairs on my parents head were probably caused by parenting me. I was independent
Living in Vulnerability
A young woman sat on my couch and shared the ways in which her marriage, which was headed toward divorce, was showing signs of rebirth. Intimate conversations and a renewed sense of connection gave her hope. She also shared how
Living with the Regrets Fear Can Create
When the phone call came from my daughter Saturday night, I picked up my phone expecting an update on the viral infection that kept her in bed this past week. Instead, I heard the news that my former sister-in-law, Sharon
Maybe It’s Okay
“If I didn’t know what it hurt like to be broken Then how would I know what it feels like to be whole.” I heard those words on the radio during my commute home from the office tonight. The reflection
Melancholy in Spring
Through the darkness of this past winter, I have longed for the coming of spring. I imagined the warmth of the sun on my face, the chance to ride my bike, and opportunities to putter endlessly in my garden. So
Missing Touch
It’s funny how you don’t realize the role something fills in your life, until it’s not there… As my followers know, I have been struggling with repeated infections since the holidays. In response, I have returned to the cautious way
Mom Grade: B+
I relish my mother-daughter weekends. There is always a lot of laughter. And because we know each other so well, our humor is often at each other’s expense. There is warmth. There is a lot of conversation. There is affection,
More than vertical
Pushing the grocery cart loaded with weekend essentials, I race for the shortest checkout line. I am pretty sure this means I will be standing there for a long time. (It took me a few decades, but I finally figured out that
