Where seeds of thought have room to grow
Category: Personal Histories
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"Dogs’ lives are too short. Their only fault, really." ~ Agnes Sligh Turnbull He wandered up to our house from the woods almost 11 years ago, a not-so-small puppy with crooked ears and a face so black you could barely see his eyes. We never found out where he came from, but…
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Tom asked me to dance for the very first time 33 years ago tonight. I was at Kenny Stabler's Diamondback Saloon in Houston on a rare Friday night off, in a bad mood because my boyfriend of five years "had other plans" that night. That wasn't unusual – he wasn't a very good boyfriend.…
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Thirty-two years ago today, Tom and I dismissed superstition by getting married on a Friday the 13th. We were so sure of our decision, so confident of our love and our future together, that we challenged those centuries-old superstitions to a duel. Well, of course they just turned tail and ran, because they…
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I was 19, living alone in my first apartment, relishing the solitude and the freedom of having my own space. Many nights I sat on a second-hand loveseat watching my very own television, bought via the Sears Easy Payment Plan. Thanks to my sister, who worked in the Sears credit department, I was building my…
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It would have been intimidating growing up with such a beautiful big sister if she had been the type to criticize or belittle. But I was blessed with Brenda. Sure, she liked to tease me sometimes, and even lost her temper with me once or twice, but given that I was a…
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“It was an odd friendship, but the oddnesses of friendships are a frequent guarantee of their lasting texture.” ~Ford Madox Ford First thing this morning, my heart was broken. I was preparing to do my homework for a class, had barely started eating my cereal, when I checked my email and saw the…
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Old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes. ~Gloria Naylor For the first Father's Day in years and years, I don't have a phone call or road trip to make. Tom and I have both lost our dads, and, well, I have kind of a lost feeling today. I'm glad…
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Tom and I were driving up to Maryland for the first time so I could meet his family and childhood friends before our wedding. It was my first time in Tennessee, the Carolinas and all of those other states between Texas and Maryland. What a fabulous trip – seeing the sunrise just outside of…
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This adorable, freckle-faced, blue-eyed boy turned 57 today. Can you believe it? If you've read much of my blog, you know I never take birthdays for granted, but I'm especially grateful for each one of his we get to celebrate. I've spent too many hours sitting in hospital waiting rooms praying for him … come…
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Bridget Shallue was just 52, younger than I am now and already a widow, when she said goodbye to Ireland in 1852 with her grown children…chased away by the potato famine, I'm sure. If she ever returned, it isn't mentioned in the family lore. Accompanied by two daughters and two sons, Bridget first…
Long Hollow 