Life Stories

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A Baby Lamb and Its Mama in Distress

It’s midnight here and I just had a thought-provoking experience. After driving back late from my mural work on a stretch of country roads where I was literally the only car for a good 15 minutes or so, I needed to tend to my sheep. After cleaning up inside some, I went out back and planned to go down and give them their daily treats and check on them. My phone was dead and I had no flashlight but I...

Presence, Absence and Distance

There’s a saying these days, “Fake it til you make it.” I don’t like that statement; and furthermore, I don’t agree with it. Just what is one faking? And, more importantly, “What will it mean to ‘make it?'” I got into bed around midnight, and then, I lay there looking at my phone. I rejoiced with those who rejoiced at the birth of another child and grandchild, while my hopes of seeing my own grown children/grandchildren any time soon ebb...

A Letter That Will Make the Demons Tremble

“I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”~ I Timothy 1:3-5 I had been thinking at some point starting to write letters to my grandbabies, but had...

Cousins, Conversation and “Concepts”

Yesterday we six Slifer women of either sister/first-cousin relationship gathered for the day to converse and catch up. There were two themes we came back to at points as we shared and reminisced on memories of past generations: 1. We all seemed to agree that as we get older, there are new or different questions we wish we could still ask of the older generations that we did not ask as much when we were younger and had opportunity. 2....