Be Empowered

Be Empowered

I see her there in line at the counter. Walking over, I say with a smile, “Well, hi there. It’s been awhile. And where’s your mama? She’s gone missing.” Her mama’s been a regular. From my place on the high stool, I’d see her...
How to Walk (with His Hand on Your Back)

How to Walk (with His Hand on Your Back)

Like a burr beneath a saddle, a hull of corn between the teeth, it’s been eatin’ him. Little Schrock, my blue-eyed scholar in the first full grade, has been struggling. Because of a girl. “She makes me laugh,” he says, distressed. Mama listens....
Summer Miracle

Summer Miracle

“Mr. Schrock,” read the note that went up the other day. “Your children are setting off bottle rockets in the back yard. Pretty sure that wasn’t on the handwritten list I handed down earlier today. If you’d like to limber up your running legs or practice your pulpit...
Parents Teach, but Children Teach, too

Parents Teach, but Children Teach, too

I learned a lot from my mom. As a girl growing up on the prairie, I learned how to keep a house. Dusting, sweeping, mopping, straightening, organizing and washing dishes were routine chores for my sister and I. I learned how to bake. Somewhere, a photo shows a girl...
What I Didn’t Know

What I Didn’t Know

I always knew I wanted to be a mother. As a girl, I played house with my dollies, taking them to church, shushing them when they cried, and kissing their plastic heads. Looking back at that girly girl, playing with her dolls, I realize now that there was a lot she...

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The Secret to Happiness

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The Sweet Life