What comes to your mind when you think about stress? Studying for exam week? Getting ready for school or work in the morning while five other people rush around and hog the bathroom? Maybe you think about being called into your boss’s office after a major goof on the job. Stress comes in all shapes and sizes and it affects us differently. Eric can take on copious amounts of stress and still press on (even making it look easy at times) while I get tripped up by comparatively small issues and feel completely paralyzed inside. Stress may affect everyone differently, but one truth is sure: your … [Read more...]

They say it is not the wounds, the unrequited love, nor the failed ventures we regret; but, instead, the chances we never took. Regret is a bear, something we can put out of our mind during the day-to-day grind, and something we can put off until tomorrow. I will apply to college... tomorrow. I will call my dad... tomorrow. I will ask her out... tomorrow. Then, we wake up and realize how many tomorrows we wasted procrastinating or running from hard choices and emotional adventures. As I write this, I am thinking about a man I have never met; but, one whom I know is questioning his choices … [Read more...]

Sitting down to write this morning, I feel a bit hypocritical. Last night, I outlined several reasons to be grateful and exude thanksgiving… and only a few mere hours later, I am tested. These last couple of weeks have been a bit stressful, but I kept thinking, “If I can just get through this, I will make it to the kick-off of the holiday season – celebrating my brother-in-law’s birthday.” We make sure to celebrate birthday celebrations as a family priority. The day before we were to head out for my brother-in-law’s birthday day, a cold decided to come for a sickness visit. So, Eric said, … [Read more...]

“I am your only shot. No one else is coming for you.” I remember a friend of mine recounting these words. Her sister-in-law heard them from the man she was then-dating; and, worse, her sister-in-law believed him. Before she knew it, she was his wife... and he was everything you would expect him to be: demanding, unkind, belittling, and a complete, hypocritical fraud who presented well in public and not in private. As a teenager, I felt so sorry for this woman even though the event had occurred twenty years prior. She eventually divorced him and managed on her own with her children; but, the … [Read more...]

As his hands approached mine, tears sprung to my eyes. “Breathe, Heather, just breathe.” Slowly I reached out and took the balled-up snake. My friend came with me to the Pet Aquatic Wearhouse to witness this event (though she surprisingly did not ask for a turn holding the snake), and to take my picture “snuggling” my new snake friend. For a few minutes, I stood there feeling a bit shocked and a bit thrilled. Anyone who knows me knows snakes are near the top of my no way list. To be fair, I have a Biblical reason ~smile~… The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, … [Read more...]