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When I adopted Scout as a puppy, I had our whole life planned out. We'd go everywhere together. Pet stores. Dog parks. Vacations. Even dog-friendly restaurants. And he'd be beautifully behaved, of course, because I was going to take the time to train him properly. I could already imagine strangers stopping us on the street to compliment me on what a polite, well-mannered dog I had. I had quite the vision. And I was determined to make it happen. I enrolled him in several K-9 t

I was far too young when I got my first contact lenses, but you couldn't have convinced me of that at the time. You see, I'd just discovered boys. And not just any boy, either. I'd found a very specific one I couldn't stop thinking about. Looking back, he was far too old for me, and there was no universe in which it would have ever happened. He was sixteen to my very gangly twelve. But as schoolgirl crushes go, I thought he was perfect for me. If only I didn't have to wear th

I've always been tenacious and have even been called stubborn on more than one occasion. And of all the things my daughters inherited from me, they got that trait in spades. It wasn't always easy, either. Especially for my poor husband, who lived with three headstrong women who were about as immovable as a mountain once we'd dug in. But like most strong traits, that stubbornness can be put to good use. And one of the best examples I've ever seen happened when my oldest daught

In most areas of my life, I’ve learned to embrace the journey. However, that’s not usually the case when I’m driving to mundane destinations. Take a grocery run. I just want to get there and back as quickly as possible. I mean, how can you really enjoy a route you’ve traveled hundreds of times? I accept that it’s a very boring means to a very boring but necessary end. But that doesn’t mean I can’t try to mitigate the boring part as much as possible. I wish I could say the sto

When I was ten, my family went on vacation to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and as fate would have it, our motel was directly across the street from the then-famous Myrtle Beach Pavilion Amusement Park. I loved splashing in the surf and swimming in the pool, but the thing that really grabbed my attention was the massive pirate ship ride that seemed to call out to me every time I stepped outside our room. It ran day and night, stopping only long enough to unload one set of luc

I used to despise the school pickup line. Somehow, I always seemed to wind up in the slow lane, and it was a daily torturous test of patience, endurance, and multitasking. But now? I miss it like crazy. Mostly because I never really had the chance to properly bid it farewell. When my oldest daughter got her driver's license, there was exactly one year when she drove herself and her younger sister to and from school each day. It was like a dream. So much extra time. And, even

A few years ago, I ran into an old friend I hadn’t seen in a while. And she looked really good. In fact, she looked better than I’d seen her in years. Of course, I had to know her secret, and I was surprised to learn that she’d adopted the Keto Diet. This woman loved bread almost as much as I did, but I couldn’t deny that giving it up certainly seemed to agree with her. The diet itself wasn’t new. It had been around for a while, and although I’d heard of it, I’d never tried i

Several years ago, I found myself standing at a crossroads. My daughter had been volunteering at the animal shelter, and one day she came home with a video of an abandoned puppy. “Can we get him?” Most of you with children have probably lived some version of this. My daughters were teenagers at the time, busy with school and other activities. My husband was busy, too. And although I worked equally hard, I did so from home. It was fairly obvious who would be caring for this li

If you’ve ever visited the southern part of the United States, you’ve no doubt heard of our famous sweet tea. For those who haven’t, it’s a tiny little shot of black tea in your sugar water. Liquid dessert. Growing up, my mom always, ALWAYS had a pitcher in the refrigerator. It was a staple at every meal. It’s a wonder our teeth didn’t rot. Anyway, she made it just like her mom, grandma, great-grandma, and so on, back to the discovery of tea leaves, apparently. And, of course

I’m mostly paperless these days, but that hasn’t always been the case. Years ago, I had multiple filing cabinets in my office where I kept client records, and the occasional purging and relocating of said records to the basement storage area was about as appealing as a colonoscopy. I’d put it off for far too long, and while I knew those cabinets were all ridiculously past capacity, I kept stuffing. It would practically take a crowbar to remove a folder, and you could forget a

A few years ago, on an ordinary summer day, I was sitting in the living room visiting with my niece when we heard a loud crack. Then came a seemingly endless moment before the inevitable crash. In the deafening silence that followed, everyone sat perfectly still. No one wanted to look. And yet, within seconds, we all found ourselves moving almost like a single organism toward the front door. What we saw took a moment to sink in. A fifty-foot tree that had stood in our yard fo

When I started elementary school, I quickly realized my vision wasn’t as sharp as it should be. Other children could sit at the back of the classroom and still see the board. For me, from that distance, it was nothing but a blurry mess. If you’re too young to remember chalkboards, they were how we learned back in the day! Anyway, I didn’t want to tell my parents about my problem because I knew exactly what would happen. They’d take me to the eye doctor, he’d tell me just how

I’m a creature of habit. An object that, once set in motion, stays in motion. A machine. A powerhouse. An unstoppable force... Until I’m not. I learned a valuable and rather humbling lesson about habits a few years ago that gave me a whole new respect for something I had always taken for granted. I had embarked on a long-overdue kitchen renovation. Not being particularly handy with power tools, I wisely hired a contractor to handle it. I was so excited and went into the proje

What do family vacations and lemons have in common? I like to squeeze every last drop out of both. I'm not sure who has it worse - the lemons or my poor family. I'm kidding. We always have a wonderful time together, and we usually come home tired but fulfilled. Several years ago, though, one vacation changed the way I think about time. Everyone wanted something different from the trip, and planning it felt like solving a giant puzzle. Determined that everyone would get exactl

I have a confession to make. I'm terrible with houseplants. I don't mean to be. In fact, I genuinely love them. They bring warmth to a room and make a space feel lived in. Unfortunately, the plants rarely seem to benefit from my good intentions. Over the years, I've noticed something about the houseplants I've managed to kill. They rarely die overnight. They decline gradually. A forgotten watering here. A little too much sun there. A week turns into two, then three, and befor

Sometimes the biggest obstacle to growth isn't a lack of time, it's how we choose to spend it. A reflection on stewardship, priorities, and building a business that supports the life you want.