bsmiles and sunny days

Last year, after Clinton turned five, I decided it was time to start pursuing a career in writing more seriously. I started doing the work in research and listening to mentors talk about the craft of writing. I don't know why I thought I could just start unraveling my heart on paper and it would be dazzling and someone would want to, need to, be compelled to publish it. I am, however, a born writer, and maybe that's why I thought the words would be enough. I heard someone say once that "writers wake up thinking about what they will write each day." That about sums up my whole life. I've been writing down book ideas for as long as I can remember. I jot down images and quotes and titles all day, everyday, in hopes of someday weaving each precious idea into a tapestry that moves peoples hearts to Christ. The momentum was really starting to build when I started my FB page. It's a good venue, right? I don't know for sure. Are people really looking at it? It get...

After we got our first dog, I never wanted another one. My kids loved him, my husband loved him, but to me he was just another chore on my unending check list of things that needed to be done. Then we got Max, a wild boxer with endless energy and crazy shenanigans. We thought he was so clever when he learned how to open the sliding glass door to let himself outside. It was infuriating when we got home one day, and he had dragged all of our couch cushions into the yard so that he would have more room to toss them into the air and tear the stuffing out of them. Our REAL couch cushions, the ones we sat on! I had to scrub all the sand off of them and sew up all the seams in order to sit on the couch again! He would run out the door every chance he got, and I’d be out there, six months pregnant, chasing him around the neighborhood, screaming at him and crying like I was insane. He made me feel like I was going insane. Then we got Jasper, a 90 pound boxer. Jasper came to us in the tinies...

When I was in the 5th grade, my little brother and I were at home one evening when I had this great idea. He could spot me while I learned to do a back walkover. He was in the third grade, so this was a very good idea. I had never had any prior gymnastics experience, so of course I would attempt this very difficult move by hurling myself into a handstand and hoping my feet would land just right. When I actually hit the handstand, I panicked and fell out of it sideways. The pop that he said "sounded not really like a firecracker, but more like a ladyfinger" was actually my collarbone snapping apart. That was the catalyst of my initial weight gain as a result of sitting out of gym class, and everything else too, except TV. Doctor's orders, I was pretty sure. What I recognize now that I didn't know then, is that weight gain is common for this age group, not just the girls sitting on the sidelines. It's a natural pattern to gain weight in adolescence to prepare f...