"I do this (looking back) in the hope of encouraging others to do the same - at least to look back over their own lives, as I have looked back over mine, for certain themes and patterns and signals that are so easy to miss when you're caught up in the process of living them." Frederick Buechner Pausing a moment at the end of each season to glance back over my shoulder at my life is my way of seeing more clearly where I might be headed in the next season. Does that seem counterintuitive? Why look backward Continue Reading

On my 56th birthday Mike gave me a hummingbird red bike. I rode the dusty trails, wind whipping my hair like I was five again. Only these weren't the suburban sidewalks where I learned to steady a bicycle and watch for cars. These weren't even the paved trails where we taught our own children to feel their balance on a two-wheeled bike. These trails were twisty and narrow, up and down, rocky, and strewn with pine cones. Sunlight streamed in through towering lacy evergreens, Douglas Firs and Ponderosa Pines. It was hear-your-breathing quiet. The only sounds were the crunching of Continue Reading

Planes are crossing in the skies and we are waving to our kids through the clouds from little rounded-corner windows. That is how I described this season of moving hearts to a friend of mine. Transitions are part of life for you and your family. Whether it is your child moving up to the next grade in school, leaving for college, coming home for the summer, getting married, or moving cross-country for a job, change is coming, and along with it opporunities for growth and adventure, for roots and wings. In the span of about 30 days, three of our Continue Reading