What makes a woman beautiful? Is it her flawless skin, dazzling white teeth, or her perfect size-6 figure? Hair is her crowning glory; the Bible even says so. Yet outward appearance distracts from true beauty, a beauty that abides deeper than the eye perceives. While I was growing up, the pursuit of outward beauty drew…
If I say “plastic surgery gone wrong” you have an instant idea, picture, TV show, or even person pop into your head. Ask YouTube for videos of face masks gone wrong, and you might laugh so hard you end up blowing coffee out of your nose. People magazine reported that the average woman spends fifteen…
I hadn’t seen my grandchildren in six months, so I was thrilled to visit them in Virginia recently. Brooklyn is four, and Carson is two-and-a-half. Ever the observant, curious child, Brooklyn was quick to note a change in my appearance. “Grandma, you’re covering up your head. Where’s your hair?” I offered to show her. My…
Twenty years ago, when I imagined myself mid-life, I curated a mental list of the things I imagined myself doing. I expected my forties to be busy, bustling with action. I hoped for a full family life and strength to check boxes on important lists all day long. I hoped to maintain a sense of…
My precious nine-month-old daughter was wailing. I mean, totally out of control. She’d been battling ear infections and new teeth and all the things babies hate. We followed the usual bedtime routines, and still she could not settle. She was gasping and hiccupping and looking desperately at her daddy, as if to say, “Please, could…
We fell in love with the Outer Banks of North Carolina in 1995, and we’ve returned almost every summer since. Each time we cross the Wright Memorial Bridge, the three-mile span that serves as the unofficial entrance, we roll down the windows and turn up our favorite Jimmy Buffett song. The smells, the sounds, and…