What was that? I slowed slightly, turned off the radio, listened. Nothing. I flipped down the rearview mirror. Blue and red lights flashed. I rolled out my lower lip. Really? Twice in one day? After I maneuvered my car to the side of the road, I rolled down my window and watched his approach in the
“Hi, my name is Katie, and I am a crier. I’ve been a crier for a long time.” I cry about everything. Hallmark commercials (most commercials). Children’s books. While at the grocery store and on the sidelines of a parade. And while the majority of the world somehow has their act together enough to keep
Dear Abby had it easy when it came to giving advice. She counseled strangers. From afar. She didn’t see or hear their fury, angst, and excuses when they disagreed with what she had to say. Countless times over the years Tony Bear has shared his giving advice protocol with me. “When people ask for my
“Why do you think you and Dad are still together?” Sandwich Child asked me that question last year. For her marriage and family psychology course at Wagner College, she was required to interview both parents. After I told her my theory about love and respect, which I blogged about here, I explained how important it
Some gal wrote a book claiming every girl longs to be swept off her feet, rescued, a bride. Not me. There’s a picture of me when I was small, at a toy ironing board, in a dress-up wedding gown. Mom must’ve made me do it, probably tickled me at the last minute to get me to
For the longest time, I wanted Christmas my way, in my house. Early on in my marriage, I imagined the fulfillment of this desire would require a death—namely, my mother-in-law’s. I certainly didn’t want that, and thankfully, I didn’t get that. Not for the longest time. “Hurry, hurry! Coats and mittens. Zip, zip. Snap, snap!” Out the door, down
“A shepherd-boy who watched a flock of sheep near a village brought out the villagers three or four times by crying out, ‘Wolf! Wolf!’ when there was no wolf…”
It was in the spring of last year when I found myself breaking up with a friend. I blame Andy Stanley for making me do it. Stanley is a popular pastor out of Atlanta, Georgia, and from time to time, I work his messages into my podcast schedule. Late one May morning in 2016, as
Beneath the photo of her flooded home, my friend DeeDee’s June 23, 2016 Facebook status read: “One day can change everything.” My heart sank. Over the course of more than a year, via Instagram, I watched DeeDee and Bobby Lewis build their dream home on the banks of the Elk River in Clay County, West
Death and dying freak me out. Scratch that. Death and dying used to freak me out. About a dozen years ago, I lost five loved ones in less than two years: my father-in-law, my grandmother, my aunt, my father, and Nana, my grandmother-in-law. That season pretty much desensitized my death phobia. I was sitting in
