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When Raymond, my husband, and I had to cut our 20th anniversary getaway short, we felt like it was just another story to add to the litany of unromantic getaways or dates we’ve had in the past. I woke up determined to salvage the day, though. I got up to prepare a special breakfast, despite…
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My husband, Raymond, and I have not had the best track record in venturing out on romantic getaways. Our honeymoon set the stage for this unfortunate streak. The room we were assigned was across the pool, next to the ice machine, just around the corner from the lobby, and to make matters worse it shared…
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Grief is a constant companion from the first moment it arrives. It bursts through the door uninvited, often unexpected, without any regard for what you already have going on. It spreads out, taking over every corner of your space with its presence. You notice things are missing and grief just shrugs, refusing to give anything…
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It has been a dream of mine for quite a long time to have a veggie garden. It’s become an even greater desire in recent years because the produce from the grocery stores is so hit or miss. It actually feels more miss than hit lately, given the amount of moldy fruits and vegetables I…
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I enjoy working on puzzles. They allow my brain to hyper focus on something other than the neverending conga line of anxious thoughts. It’s also very satisfying to fit the pieces together and watch the picture take shape on whatever surface I have cleared to work on my puzzle. I especially enjoy the challenge of…
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When I was in middle school, my Mom started working at a little craft store in our small town called Craft Tree. The store itself was tucked into a small strip-mall, just down from Blockbuster. My Mom would come home from work smelling of eucalyptus, and to this day that scent immediately takes me back…
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I have never read Wicked by Gregory Maguire, nor seen the musical, but some of the songs from the latter have been in my playlist for several years. When the movie adaptation was released in theaters, I really wanted to go see it, but for several reasons it just never happened. So, instead I grabbed…
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I celebrated my 39th birthday yesterday, which means my Forty Before Forty challenge feels all the more real now! I have a year to check off the remaining goals but for some reason it now feels down-to-the-wire. I’m not sure if I am making good progress or not. I think there are a couple that…
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Chapter 12: Freedom My Dad was teaching, and my brother was in school, so my Mom and I had a long drive just the two of us. “I promise I will never send you back there,” she said in earnest, and the rest of the weight floated away. We had a real heart-to-heart, and though…
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Our family of four, along with a bunch of our extended family members, have been going on summer vacation together since 2019. Typically, we all go in together to rent a cabin somewhere. We’ve stayed in Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina. This time, though, we shifted gears and ventured away from the picturesque woods. When…