Children
She always loved flowers
In the photo on my desk, my son Joe was 9 years old, wearing a baseball cap twisted backwards and baggy old hand-me-down jeans. Flip flops finished his scruffy-kid look. In his hands, he clutched a bouquet of red camellias picked from the neighbor’s yard. There was a soft almost embarrassed smile on his face.…
Read MoreIf you give a co-ed a chandelier
Whether it’s grandma’s silver gumbo spoons, a tiara or a spinning baton, Southern girls have always been drawn to sparkly things. That’s why the trend to “bling-up” the dormitories of co-eds around the South has taken off like wildfire. It’s yet another outlet for our love of all things pretty. But now, The Atlanta Symphony…
Read MoreTreasure boxes hold what’s important to us
Before I post the column for this week, let me take a moment to thank everyone who noticed my column hasn’t appeared in the print edition of the Mobile, Birmingham and Huntsville papers for the last few weeks. There’s a new computer system at AL.com, and with that comes a different way of loading up…
Read MoreEnjoy them now and graduation will be easier
Older women would see my children and say, “Enjoy them while they’re young. They grow up in a hurry.” I’d smile and think, “That’s sweet,” but what I didn’t understand was they were actually revealing the secret for not losing my mind years later when my children walked out the door into the world. The…
Read MoreReplacing the college kid
In preparation for taking my youngest son to college in a couple of weeks, I’ve wisely anticipated the difficult areas that may cause great heartache and have taken steps to avoid gut-wrenching bouts of sobbing I hear so many other mothers experience. My eldsest son just graduated from college and although it was difficult to…
Read MorePop-up VBS – here’s the scoop
I sat and watched again on TV last spring as a teen turned violent and shot and killed his peers. His teachers said he was “disconnected” from his community. I felt glad that couldn’t happen in our small (but growing) tight-knit community because everyone feels involved here, right? I mean, Southern Living loves us, so…
Read MoreAll parents should home school (?)
Every parent should home school — but hold on, before you yank Junior out of the 4th grade at Possum Valley Elementary, let me explain. After home schooling one of my sons for a few years and sending the other all the way through public schools, as well as teaching in a public system, I’ve come…
Read MoreGrace that is greater than all our sins
Grace that is greater than all our sins There needs to be a word to describe the specific feeling you get when you are simultaneously furious with your child, yet still want to hug them till they melt in your arms. I thought of this when my husband told me, “All the boys in…
Read MoreCollege — what are you going to do about it?
I’m starting to gear up mentally and otherwise for sending my youngest off to college next fall, so I’ve been thinking about when we dropped our oldest off (wasn’t it just last week?). We were truly shocked to learn other parents were hanging around the campus for days helping to “decorate.” Then, on social media,…
Read MoreHello Lessons
Our eldest son was a bit shy, or so we thought, until we discovered he was more accurately stubborn. When an acquaintance stopped, leaned down, and asked, “What’s your name?” our son stared straight at him with no emotion whatsoever. “Tell Mr. McGibby what your name is,” we coached. Still, our darling little redhead looked…
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