Stuck in Atlanta traffic and numbed by the city’s downtown landscape, I saw her in my peripheral vision. We had similar hair, but that was where our likeness ended. She wore a lush camel coat and Louboutin stilettos; her linen shirt dress belted high on her waist. She moved in step with the wind, and…
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Several years ago, I walked away from the Church. There were no loud protestations nor broad sweeping accusations. I turned quietly, and with a whisper, I snuck out the side door. I chose to leave when many of my peers were making similar decisions, and there was comfort and validation in that joint exodus. But…
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Once upon a time, there was a girl. She lived in a magical place where anything was possible. A branch could be a magic wand; a stone could be a precious gem, a weeping willow, a castle. There were a thousand games in that land, and she was the queen. In the autumn light, her…
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I will, on occasion, contribute an original essay to some of my favorite blogs and websites. One of my very favorites, Grown & Flown is tailored to parents who are, much like myself, parenting young adults. About a year ago, I contributed a very tender piece about my son, my prodigal as I so lovingly call…
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That morning, the soil beneath my feet smelled nourished and wet, marked by the grand indifference of rain. It was a deep black, and the pine branches a brilliant green. There was a filmy veil of soft dull mist obscuring the deep black earth but not entirely, as the coppered leaves lay in wait for…
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I love the quiet ferocity of the sea. There is something magical and yet menacing in the wet, briny air, silver at dawn, and deep blue at noon. I am drawn to it, an unpredictable living thing, calm and welcoming, with open arms to embrace its audience one moment, and explosive and quick-tempered the next,…
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I could feel the familiar catch in my throat, and the sting of tears in my eyes as the noise of the room grew in uncomfortable tension. I was steadfast, optimistic, and overprepared for what the morning meeting would hold – or so I believed. But there were veiled ambushes and pointed statements, and the…
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Resting on the roots of an old oak, I leaned back against its knotted trunk to consider the passing of time. I felt, in those moments of nostalgia, a small resurgence of my five-year-old self…a quiet little warrior of a girl, reminding me of who I was before time told me otherwise. My children, no…
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I see you. I watch your eyes widen, and your lips purse as a pronounced red blush spreads across your face. You can’t just walk away as that would be rude, and you don’t have anything further to ask because there is, quite frankly, nothing more to say. And so you shift uncomfortably from right…
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I am an introvert. I sought for many years to define the marked restlessness of a soul driven by the desire to communicate in a wildly expansive and profound way and the equal craving for sanctuary and introspection. While I have come to embrace this personality preference, it tends to lend itself to a complexity…
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