Belated birthday dinner for my eldest. The big 23. A special occasion, smart phones were purposely moved to the center of the table/out of reach, while actual, focused conversations took place among three undistracted participants. It was nice. Of course, once the meal was consumed and after I was given the check, one by one,…
Category: family
World Kindness Day
Today was the beginning of the latest round of checkups to manage the NF2 disease in both of my boys. My eldest has these scans and appointments more frequently due to chemotherapy, but they’re both checked out on the regular. Today brought more than four hours worth of MRIs for my youngest. We know going…
Weekend, Part II
Today started out with a beautiful mist — and it only grew lovelier. This was the perfect day for a trip with my Mom and sister to Warm Springs Ranch, home to the world-famous Budweiser Clydesdales. We got to see lots of these pretty fellas. I think this one wanted a scratch. It’s hard…
Weekend, Part I
So how much fun was this weekend? My answer? A LOT of fun. Saturday morning, I headed to the middle of the state to spend the weekend with my family. First stop: the local nature center with my sister to take an ornament-making class. This plant is real. It stopped me in my tracks on…
Because…
…today is National Cat Day. Then again, these aren’t just cats. They’re family. And we love them.
Running in the Windy City
Our second marathon is in the books — mine, as well as Drew’s! Neither of us achieved the times we were hoping for, but we finished. It was a little too warm, unbelievably windy, and an all-around tough day. But we got through our training, made it to the start line uninjured, endured 26.2 miles, crossed the finish and…
Levels of Uncertainty
“I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it. Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight. And as we fly, we still…
Tiny Bite of the Big Apple
What an adventure. A few months ago, Tanner received an email letting him know that he’d won tickets to see U2 at Madison Square Garden. Obviously this was not a trip we’d planned to take this year, but wow, it turned out to be amazing. We spent three quick days in the Big Apple, but…
Cupcakes and Grace
This weekend, I took a short road trip to my hometown to participate in a very special (Cupcake!) 5K to support two of my high school friends who have a child with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a rare, cruel and incurable disease. It was a family affair, including my sister and brother, as well as my son and…
Memories and Loss
“… even out of unspeakable grief, beautiful things take wing.” –AR Torres, “The Lessons of Loss” Today included a little road trip for work to help with one of our special events. It’s a camp that helps children who have experienced the death of a loved one. The goal is to teach them to cope and…
My Favorites
Because it’s Mother’s Day, I didn’t feel bad dragging one of my kids to the City Garden this morning. Just a quick trip to see what’s blooming. (This was after a nice hike at Powder Valley.) Peonies….ohhhhh. Especially these. They look like they’re marbled. These irises reminded me so much of a Vincent Van Gogh piece….
Worth A Thousand Words
Since I started participating in races a few years ago, I’ve always tried to manage a smile at event photographers at different points along the course. However, given what I know I look like when I run (red-faced, sweaty and not even remotely cute), I’ve never really felt the need to own any of the Kodak…
Tell Me Again. How…?
So my eldest has finished college. There. I said it. All that remains is the ceremony to make it official. Next year at this time, it will be my youngest’s turn. How weird is that?? Accordingly, I’ve settled into a strange, weepy, sentimental fog of love, gratitude, pride, and bewilderment. How on earth did we…
Similarly Unique, Uniquely Similar
This little white tulip in a sea of red caught my eye the other day and made me smile. Pretty little rebel. The next day, I took this photo. This is the start line of my very first marathon. Believe it or not, these photos feel very similar to me. In a sea of…
It Will Be Okay.
This week brought a quick road trip with my son…but not the kind of adventure road trip we’re used to. This was a trip to his first “real” interview for a position within his field of study. Given that I was well into the second week of this lovely illness that has been rocking my…
Write It On Your Heart…
“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson On this first day of a full week of vacation, I thought it would be a good time to look back over and share some of the best of the best days of 2014. Lots of…
Garden Glow
Last night, we wandered through the Botanical Garden for the annual Garden Glow. And there is absolutely no way to do it justice. But I’ll share what I have. The spheres and trees in the reflection pools change color and were synced to music. But it even looked gorgeous in the dark. This is the second…
Holiday Lights Run
An unexpected addition to our calendars actually made it possible for me to cross an item off my winter “Travel in Place” list. Tonight we ran in a local running store’s “Holiday Lights Run” in the south part of the city, including…Candy Cane Lane! Before we even got to the famous street, we made our way through some other…
Travel in Place
“To “travel in place” is to explore the deeper means of community, to understand how to grow a garden, grow food, what kind of tree grows outside your door, what the insects are and the name of that bird is that just flew by…. even if you’re in one place, you can still travel. We’re…
Throwback Thursday
I’m pretty sure I’ve posted these photos out here before, but I don’t care. It’s almost Halloween and this is my favorite set of Throwback photos of all time. Love these faces, love these boys.
Rock ‘n Roll, Baby!
It started Friday night at the Expo packet pickup. My boy was an aspiring marathoner. Then, bright and early Sunday morning in downtown St. Louis… He became an official marathoner. In 3:56. My brother and younger son ran along side him outside of the course for the last .2 miles or so. And I didn’t…
It’s the Great Halloween Race, Charlie Brown!
How. Much. Fun. Is. This. These are my kids before their second Great Halloween Race…and my Dad’s first. Tanner ran the 5K, Drew ran a 10K, Dad was a course monitor. I ran my third Halloween 10K. I’m so tickled to report that three was a charm; I posted a personal best today. SO FUN….
You Sure Look Happy
This is that utterly perfect time of year to be a runner. In my mind, any way. Temperatures are cool. Sunlight lingers long enough to get in a few miles after work. A lot more people are out and about. And of course, there’s that little matter of changes in color. Tonight I had one of…
Perfect. Just Perfect.
Friday marked the ten-year anniversary of my kids and I calling St. Louis home. And I cannot think of a more perfect way to celebrate than taking in the best of this city with my lifelong best friend and her wonderful family, who made the trek from Kansas City for this visit. What a blast….
hey there, friends 