Twenty years ago tonight, one of my very best friends was killed by a drunk driver. It was the single most life changing event that I had experienced in my brief 21 years on the planet and has continued to impact the trajectory of my life ever since. Her brilliant short life and her untimely death held many lessons… [Read More]
Remembering Jenny – Mondays Are Always Hard
Another year has passed. It doesn’t seem like it can be 19 years since our sweet Jenny went to heaven. Some days it feels like a blink. Some days it feels like being stranded on an island with no real way to get off. Some days there are little reminders like a double rainbow or… [Read More]
Remembering – 18 Years Later
There is something completely unbelievable in knowledge that 18 years have passed. Truthfully, this May 15th has kind of crept up on me. I wanted to write something that meaningful, fresh but I have been so wrapped up in the long a dreadful process of my Mom’s move to hospice that I am just not sure I have… [Read More]
Missing the Sun
Today would be my sweet Jenny’s 38th birthday. It is hard to believe that it has been almost 17 years since she was killed by a drunk driver. Today my Facebook feed has been filled with love for her. Smiles, sunshine and joy. I can only wish, if I left this planet early, that my… [Read More]
Run Happy: St. Patrick’s Day 5k
Clock Time: 36:33 Pace 11:48 Today was a beautiful day in central Ohio. So beautiful in fact, that I wish I had worn something much lighter for my first race of the season. This was the first time I ran the Flannagan’s St. Patrick’s Day 5k, but it probably won’t be my last. It was… [Read More]
A Crown of Beauty for Ashes
It was a normal day, when the news started to spread across our office. A co-worker, a friend, her daughter, only 8, gone. We gathered, a room full of mothers, in shock. How? Why? Each taking a deep breath as the story was repeated over and over again. I couldn’t find the tears as I… [Read More]
Where Where You? A 9/11 Moment
My mind is so easily attached to a memorable lyric. When I think about September 11th, the one lone line from Alan Jackson’s tribute song, “Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?” always begins to resonate within my heart. “Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?” Where… [Read More]
Come Monday: The Hardest Part
Today is the day. The 15 year anniversary of that fateful Wednesday night when our eternally happy Jenny was taken from us from a drunk driver. I have no interest in glorifying the crash but I do want to show how the unconditional love and friendship of one person can cause a ripple of love… [Read More]
Come Monday: The Days After
The planed landed and every person stayed seated. It was a small plane, I had to walk outside to the stairs. Betsy & Chad met me in the hallway (yes, you could do that back then.) and I am pretty sure that she and I collapsed on the floor of that airport crying for a… [Read More]
Come Monday: The Night
I remember the day that I was accepted into graduate school more clearly than I should. You see, this was the day that my life changed forever. The day that the world stopped turning. The day that the sun dimmed. I hated teaching and I had applied to graduate school in hopes that I could… [Read More]