Murphy, Murphy. What can I say about Murphy? Murph and I did not start out on solidly good terms.  When I met Murphy, on my first trip to visit Jared in Grinnell, Jared was living in campus-owned housing. I believe the first weekend I met Murphy, he jumped from his perch onto my shoulders.  I [...]

I was in a flashback-y kind of mood the day I wrote this.  I’ve held onto it for a while because it’s a shameful part of my past, but in letting go of the shame, I have to acknowledge the demons that have been there. I go for whole days now without “the hims” crossing [...]

I spent the day visiting my parents and my grandmother.  I managed to get some pretty great family pictures, but I’m only sharing a couple tonight.  The following one is of a family cousin, probably sometime in the first decade of the 1900s: And then there’s the next one, that was taken on Sunday, February [...]

It’s been several days since I posted here and that’s because I’ve been doing some seriously heavy contemplation, as I went on a spiritual retreat last weekend.  Here’s what I’ve learned: There are groups of women out there who will support you through anything and with whom you can share anything without fear of being [...]

We visited my parents this afternoon and I visited their basement with the intention of taking a picture of their cat, Cricket.  I got distracted, though, for there are treasures in my parents’ basement.  The first one, I sort of went looking for on purpose after I got downstairs: I was baptized at Stockbridge Presbyterian [...]