Especially if you want a relationship with your kids — My sons are starting to bring home girlfriends. My younger son has a young lady friend that he has been dating for four months. This is a record for him. They are only seventeen, but they are really sweet together. She spends a lot of time at our house. I try to make her feel welcome and keep…

If only I could turn back time — Now that I’m the parent of a young adult and a teenager, I find myself struggling with doing the right thing as a parent. It’s hard to know if I am making the right decisions, but I had a couple of good role models in my life. Being a parent…

This mindset makes it difficult to promote ourselves when we become writers — A few years back, my sister and I attended a Christian woman’s conference at her church. I was hoping that the experience would make me want to get back to going to church on a regular basis, but I found the experience to have the opposite effect. There was a…

The resulting fallout between her daughters should be a lesson to us all — How many of us know someone who isn’t speaking to a family member because of an inheritance issue? I have two such scenarios in my family. Both are between a brother and sister who have vowed to never speak to each other again. It’s a dirty rotten shame, is what…

Don’t people realize that cruel comments can leave a lasting scar with lifelong consequences? — Internet trolls are shaming Miranda Lambert because of her weight. After she performed on stage recently in cowboy boots and denim shorts, the insults were especially cruel. “Miranda Hambert” and Mealranda Lambert” are two of the particularly heinous comments directed her way. You would think that in the year 2022…

I’m not sure why stats are so important anyway! — For the past year and a half, I have published an article on Medium almost daily. However, that changed last week when I went on a short vacation. Not only did I not publish, but I also didn’t even check my Medium account. It felt so strange but in a…

So my sister gave him one for Christmas — It’s been thirty-one years since I first took my husband to meet my mother’s family. I couldn’t wait for him to meet them. But, since I was starry-eyed and in love in those early days, I wasn’t thinking things through. …

I admit that I’m madder than hell — I don’t want to say that Facebook is everything to me, but it is important. It’s where I first started writing my stories and anecdotes. I also connected with many of my cousins and their children when I published thousands of family pictures. …

It’s a matter of perspective, and no one is right or wrong — I’ve been writing a lot of adoption stories lately. Since my niche is writing about my life, it’s understandable that this would be the case. Both of my children are adopted and have entirely different perspectives about their adoption. My oldest isn’t interested in finding out his biological background. I’ve…