Pearls
It's the morning of November 12, 2022, and this is a story about my birthday girl and her pearls. And a mother who sometimes loses the...
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- Aug 15, 2022
- 3 min
Distracted
I had a writing goal for last week to finish the structural outline for a memoir about how loss shapes families. Then I found a lost dog....
- Jun 3, 2022
- 3 min
Three Decades Later and a Few Thoughts on Marriage
On my wedding day, at exactly 4:03 p.m., my dad and I began our walk down the aisle, arm in arm, forgetting everything we had been told...
- May 26, 2022
- 3 min
Dinner, Then Stories
Saturday nights, everyone in our family made it a point to be home for dinner with my dad. He would walk over from his house and stay...
- May 20, 2022
- 2 min
Shipping News
I love to ship things. That's likely the nerdiest thing you've ever heard, but let me clarify: I love to ship things that people have...
- May 12, 2022
- 4 min
The House is a Parking Lot
My Granny Pearl thought her husband, my Papa, gave too much money to the church. This was an ongoing conflict between the two of them,...
- Apr 14, 2022
- 3 min
The Book Backstory, Part 2
Every book has a story. The idea for Move the Needle came soon after we started Storia Editing and Publishing. My collaborators and I are...
- Apr 2, 2022
- 2 min
Martha's Journey (Or, Why You Should Buy My Book)
When she was 12 years-old, Martha was forced to leave her biological family in the Volta Region of Ghana and move halfway across the...
- Mar 20, 2022
- 4 min
The Book Backstory, Part 1
On my 32nd wedding anniversary, I had a breakdown. It had nothing to do with my husband, my marriage, or my failure to get him a gift or...
- Feb 24, 2022
- 4 min
Move the Needle
When I was a little girl, I wrote stories on rough sheets of unlined construction paper my mother bought at Gibson’s Five and Dime store....
- Jul 28, 2021
- 3 min
Goodbye, Grace
I guess everyone thinks their dog is the best. We told her this a hundred times in the week before we said goodbye, and we meant it....
- May 8, 2021
- 5 min
My Mother in Blurry Shadows
There is an app called Blur Photo that allows you to safely post a photo that will, no surprise, blur faces. This Mother’s Day, I...
- Feb 14, 2021
- 5 min
One Year of Love Letters
“I think these are love letters,” my daughter said as she sat cross-legged on the floor of a storage unit that held the last of my...
- Sep 23, 2020
- 5 min
Quarantine Goal: Ace the Citizenship Exam
A few weeks ago we were having a pleasant family dinner on the front porch and when the conversation lagged a bit, my husband thought it...
- Aug 24, 2020
- 5 min
Quarantine Survive and Thrive: Journaling
March 10 was the last semi-normal day I remember. After an eye doctor appointment, I went back to work then stopped by the store on the...
- Jul 12, 2020
- 4 min
A Pandemic Lesson from Grace
My dog is terrified of storms. They are debilitating for her. Her legs shake, she can’t eat, she can’t sit or lay down and she pants as...
- Apr 20, 2020
- 2 min
Here for the Imperfect Days
My mother died 12 years ago today. I’ve been thinking about her more than usual, which means instead of five times a day, it’s ten times....
- Oct 31, 2019
- 5 min
About That Costume (and Trick or Treating)
The only photos I have of my childhood Halloween are the two years I was dressed as a clown. My mother was an excellent seamstress, but...
- Dec 30, 2018
- 5 min
Baking Like 1973
I’m a little edgy the week between Christmas and the New Year, trying hard to “take time off” but also feeling a looming sense that I...
- Sep 18, 2018
- 4 min
What Came Across My News Feed in Sewing Class
Yesterday we welcomed 13 new students for the fall session of our Refugee and Immigrant Sewing Enterprise. They came ready to sew, but...
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