Coffee & Conversation

French doors grace the living room of my home. They open onto my back deck, where I like to sit in the morning, surrounded by panting dogs and chirping birds. The doors are a recent installment. Their windows allow natural light into my home. I soak it up with pleasure. Still, the windows are always […]

I’ve said it. I’ve read it. More than once. You have too. “2020 sucks!” I have a friend who I call my “complaining friend”. She’s allowed to text me the worst of the worst, and I am allowed to do the same to her. No holds barred. No filters. Just raw spewing of the challenges […]

The day was bright and sunny and clear-skied. The temperature was a balmy 68 or 70 degrees, my brain can’t recall exactly. What I do remember on that early fall day was treating myself to a Starbuck’s Frappuccino in the morning and then attempting to achieve my usual 3-miles of running in the afternoon. What […]

It is 10:45 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. My son is bouncing on his tiny trampoline behind me as I work at my desk. He is chanting, “I will develop myself in a positive manner…” Breaths come in puffs between the words, making him sound like a chuffing train. I – puff – will – […]

I hear the oil bubbling in the giant black pot. Its acrid smell blending with the pungent smell odor of cinnamon and nutmeg. My silver-haired granny is wearing a red and green checkered apron, and her hands, devoid of the gold jewelry usually adorning them, are buried in sticky dough. “The key” she tells me […]

Tomorrow is my 36th birthday. It does not feel like a significant event, really. Along with my usual joy of celebrating my life on this planet, I found myself in contented state of mind. Last year, when I turned 35, I experienced a bit of a mid-thirties crisis and quickly decided to return to school […]

The preacher said the phrase again. Cold fear shot down my spine from my temple to my toes.  “Beyond a shadow of a doubt”, he droned. “You must know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Heaven is yours, that Jesus is your Savior, that you have repented and turned from your sin to God.” […]

In the small village in Germany, where my family and I lived when I was fourteen, our neighbors, Herr and Frau Stoof, invited us over one afternoon for coffee and sweets. Frau Stoof also brewed a passion-fruit tea, just for me. She let me enjoy the whole pot – a beautiful carafe of German porcelain. […]

Dear Food, I love you. You’ve taken me places I would never have gone. You’ve given solace when I was alone. You kept me from other versions of self-harm. Your offer of ice cream and peanut butter was better than cutting my arm open. You kept me safe. So, thank you. Thanks for being around. […]

Excerpt from devotional reading in the Bible app, June 11, 2020