We Do What We Have to Do, Even Solo Vacations
Warning: This is a rant. I am indulging because it will make me feel better. Yes, I realize that this is selfish behavior. Feel free not to continue reading.
Warning: This is a rant. I am indulging because it will make me feel better. Yes, I realize that this is selfish behavior. Feel free not to continue reading.
Trying to find the right church is like swimsuit shopping. There are too many options. You think one style will look good, but you’re never 100 percent sure, so you feel like you should probably try on everything, which is exhausting and takes far longer than you were planning on. One looks good on top,…
I turned 39 last week. I spent a few days at the end of our vacation with my dad, and at some point, he asked me how I felt about being one year away from 40. I took a moment and thought about it, as honestly as I could on the fly like that, and…
The end of summer is always bittersweet, but the reasons are a bit different this year. In the past, summer ending meant mourning the loss of endless Lake Michigan beach days, the end of camping season, no more trips to Silver Lake to play on the sand dunes, no more Saturday mornings at the farmers’…
2013 has been a big adventure for us, our first full year with L. Last New Year’s, she was just beginning to sit up on her own and was still very much an infant. Today, she is a strong-willed little girl with more personality than me and E combined. It was a big year for…
Last week, a friend of mine shared a meme. It depicted an old man in front of a bingo board. Above him was a picture of a weather radar showing twin hurricanes hurtling across the Gulf of Mexico. “Who had double hurricanes on their 2020 Bingo card?” the caption read. Twenty-twenty has certainly felt like…
My husband’s father came to the U.S. from the Netherlands when he was four. His parents settled in West Michigan, long known for its heavy population of Dutch immigrants and their descendants. When I moved to Grand Rapids, I noticed every name seemed to begin with “Van Der” or end with “-ema.” When E and…