She walks off with her overnight bag rolling behind her. She looks bigger as she walks further and further away from me. Her friends are dancing and cheering in the window. She’s well-loved. She’s my sweet baby girl. Although, the baby is less and less and the big-kid persona seems to keep finding her. She’s walking into the fun and excitement of her first sleepover. …

It’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining with such intensity that I find myself squinting. Every time I venture to my mother’s grave, the sun shines so brightly it’s nearly blinding. Call it coincidence, or call it a sign from the heavens, either way the sunshine and warmth are comforting.  I sit there on the hard concrete, the black roadtop that borders my mother’s…

He jumped in the car from kindergarten pickup, excited to show me important papers. As he opens his bag he says, “Mom, today I have papers that are kind of for Memere!”  Memere is what he calls my mother. It means grandmother. She’s been gone for two years now so I was intrigued to see what he’d pull out. A paper he had written? A…

You’re going to need her, and she’s gone. Who am I kidding, you already need her, each and every day. But this pregnancy and this beautiful blessing make you miss her and need her more than you have before. I can see it and feel it.  You’re going to need her, and she’ll be there. It will just be different than you envisioned. You won’t…