Beyond Just Mom

Is this a familiar theme in your household?
How was your day? fine.
What happened at school? not much.
Wanna talk about it? not really.
It seems like no matter how hard I try, those questions never seem to get much information. A wise school counselor once suggested I use different words to ask the same question. Just [...]

I had another mini meltdown last night.  It happens periodically, perhaps more periodically than I care to admit. 
Let me preface this with the caveat that I am richly blessed with an abundance of social, spiritual and material support that makes this whinefest completely unjustified.  But as I debriefed this episode with myself this morning (we–myself and [...]

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It still gives me goosebumps. 
Just one more story about our Kona coast vacation:  In the mornings and evenings, we relaxed on our lanai (can’t get enough of that word–much more exotic than “deck”) and searched the horizon for spinner dolphins and humpback whales, as advertised.  It seems the dolphins were on holiday that week, but we [...]

I think people knew something about grace long before we had today’s words for it. 
Just down the Kona coast from our temporary Big Island home is Pu’uhonua o Honaunau, a National Park and preserved ancient Hawaiian village that includes The Place of Refuge.  It’s a haunting and beautiful sanctuary where ancient Hawaiian royalty–the kings and big [...]

Oh, what a wonderful respite. 
We had a lovely vacation on the Big Island of Hawai’i last week.  My husband’s parents found a house on the shore of Kealakekua Bay on the Kona coast, far from any resorts, tourists or crowds.  Our house sat right on top of a huge lava flow overlooking a marine life [...]