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I inhaled the smell of freshly-cut grass as John entered the house this afternoon. His jeans bore shards of his work, and I watched a few green globs drop as he walked toward the refrigerator.
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A condiment crisis is threatening our country. From sea to briny sea, fast food restaurants are guarding their packet reserves. Ketchup. Salt. BBQ sauce. Sugar. These tiny flavor enhancers are…
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My granddaughter, Bree, was spending the night with Papa John and me. It was an adventure and a memory in the making.
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I brought flowers to Mom this week. Springtime stems of forsythia, dogwood and lilac. It’s too early for the real thing—but silk is fine.
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The moms of our own childhoods were not much different from us, but they DID have one important tool for child rearing that we in the 21st century have dropped. And sold. And thrown away.
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“Paper or Plastic?” The bagger at the grocery store stared through me and waited for an answer. I was flustered; hadn’t I made enough choices already? The conveyor belt chugged and groaned as …
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It seems I’m outgrowing my hair. I’ve made peace with the daily battle of outgrowing my clothing, but my new skull expansion is a shock.
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My brothers decided to have their friend, John Graham, over to spend the night. I was 12 or 13, and he was my first crush. They spent all afternoon in the back yard, and after supper they slun…
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One of the toughest lessons an older relative learns is how to become a seat-filler at birthday parties for their grandchildren, nieces, and nephews. Your role is to be one of the older relati…
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In the world of 13-year-olds, few things are hurry-worthy.
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There is nothing uglier on the face of the planet than a pair of men’s briefs. You know it’s true. Every wife on the earth stifles a shudder — and a yawn — as she tosses those “tighty-whities”…
"She sure wants to be next. Look—she’s chomping at the bit!” I watched the excited girl wait for her turn on the Ferris wheel. My daughter — a teenager at the time — stood at my side, pretendi…
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Family togetherness isn’t always a good thing. Especially in January, when the weather is so cold, so depressing and so dreary that you find yourself staring out an ice-encrusted window trying…
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It’s time to make that first significant purchase of the year. I’ve browsed throughout the holiday season, looking for the perfect calendar.
When I was in kindergarten, my father developed rheumatic fever. As Christmas got closer, my mother looked sadder every day. She was also on the phone a lot. I didn’t see the embarrassment in …
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My husband has been pelting me with the same question for weeks.
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Christmas Eve is a week away, and it feels like it should still be August.
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What happened to Christmas cards? I’ve seen a lot of holiday cards. Cheery "Hello from Our House to Yours" cards. Cute, "Ooh, look at the darling little puppies in Santa hats" cards. Artists’ …
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My alarm rang with certainty — no ifs, ands, or buts — it was time to get up.
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If your grown children ask what you want for Christmas this year, don’t bother telling them. Sure, you have plenty of suggestions of gadgets and gizmos you would never buy yourself but would l…
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Once upon a Thanksgiving I spent the morning with my Dad making his favorite fudge while we munched on celery and cream cheese — a tradition started years ago by Granny.
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He was a black-and-white wonder; a marvel of manhood. With the vigor of a lumberjack, Jack LaLanne grinned and cajoled his way into the living rooms of women all over America in the '50s.
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Mom used to wake up early on Thanksgiving morning and begin preparing a meal that would feed the army of family still asleep beyond the kitchen.
I just re-watched the old movie, "Panic Room." An independent, much-too-thin-to-have-ever-given-birth woman and her sassy, I-know-bad-words-wanna-hear-them daughter are trapped together in a r…
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I have been singing the praises of my husband a lot lately — well deserved ones with the hard work he's put in at our new place this last year and a half.
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Mom always had the perfect box ready and waiting. I’d climb onto the bed and under the covers, all sniffly and feverish, and wait for the sound of a serrated kitchen knife cutting through cardboard.
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Once again, I find myself pondering why I am so odd sometimes.
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Want to stay safe this Halloween? I’ve lived this long by following the rules I learned by watching horror movies.
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It’s rather irritating to be married to me.
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Here is something I have learned over time, and by that I mean in the last year or so, because my job is pretty public.
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I flashed my most vibrant "I’m about to be a grandma again!" smile. My cart was full of baby shower gifts and I only needed one more thing. I decided to search for a salesclerk.
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I stare at her in the mirror.
October is an object lesson from God. We may plod unwittingly through the other 11 months, tossing hours and minutes away like loose change from deep pockets. Our thoughts may run shallow; lif…
We play a little game at our house. I’m sure you’ve played it, too. The only equipment you need is a TV. Two can play, provided they are over 50 and about the same age. This is an adult game.
A terrible habit of mine is getting on social media and reading comment sections.
Fall is here.
I opened the door to greet my neighbor with a few children wrapped around my legs.
Step outside on a late September afternoon and you will hear the sounds of a million voices singing about life. It is at once raucous and soothing; rhythmic and staccato. Close your eyes and f…
Waiting at the window, I arranged the blue ruffles on my brand new dress and flipped my hair around to look just right.
It was freshman math and my first class of the day.
Me — somewhere around 25 years old.
When God created Mankind, he knew we’d need the basics. Food. Water. Shelter. He provided a lush garden to meet those needs. Then Adam took a nap, Eve was added to Eden, and Paradise was complete.
When I was 7, my brother turned out all the lights, pretended to be a ghost, and chased me into the first-floor bathroom. I sat crying in the tiny room until a note flew under the door — a mes…
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I am a member of an exclusive group of humans. Though small in number — only 15% of the world’s population are members — we have infiltrated every arena of life and learned to adapt to the maj…
Logan was about 5 years old when he walked into the kitchen one day, loudly wailing about something.
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Every morning before high school, a collective expletive could be heard in the air above my small hometown in the 1950s and early ’60s, as teen girls twisted and shouted themselves into their nylons.
After almost 37 years of employment at the Hannibal Courier-Post I will soon be leaving.
Upon moving into our temporary home while renovating our forever home, which we have now been in since April, I boxed up some precious family photos and documents and took them to my mother an…