In April of this year, after months of delays, I finally sat down to write my book How to Make Melt and Pour Soap from Scratch. My goal was to have the book written and published in time for a speaking engagement I had on the topic in May, 2011. My plan had been to start the book in January with what appeared to be just enough time to have it in … [Read more...]
Glimpses of Joy
My approach to daily living has been changed by the persistence of grief that has followed the loss of someone so deeply personal to me, that she went down the very roots of who I am. I’ve been through loss before and hard times, but nothing quite like the loss of my mother. It has taken intentional action to catch my equilibrium as I adjust back … [Read more...]
Live or Die :: A Devotional
“Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:16 I was standing at the gathering place when I heard my mother calling me home at an unusual hour. Heading towards her I saw something that I didn’t recognize in her countenance. Apprehension consumed me. Her words … [Read more...]
Present at the First & Last Breathe of Life
I’ve been the strong one stroking the belly of a loved one filled with cancer. The cancer so advanced that I could feel it under his thin skin as I promised him that it was okay to die that day, and reassured him that we would carry on. I stood there in the room hours later as the last breath escaped his body relieved that his pain was over and … [Read more...]
Autumn and the Brevity of Life
Autumn always reminds me of the brevity of life. The color of the leaf’s as they change reminds me of the outdoor celebration of life we held a few days after my friend Troy died. Just a few days prior to our celebration of his life, I had passed him in the cafeteria as I rushed out the door. I glanced over at him and every fiber of my body told me … [Read more...]
Upon Goodbye :: My Mom
On January 19, 2011 I picked up my parents from Sea-Tac airport after they cut their Hawaii vacation short because my mom was in severe pain. None of us had any idea that at that moment that within days she would be in the emergency room, then ICU, moved to an oncology unit, in home hospice and gone exactly three weeks later. When I gave … [Read more...]
Alzheimer’s the Kidnapper of History :: In Memory of My Uncle Tom
This morning it seemed that something was different, I could sense it even in the air I breathed, something had changed. I couldn’t get my Uncle Tom off of my mind. He has been dying for some time now, but this week the end was imminent. When my phone rang and my parent’s phone number flashed on the screen, I knew, I knew what was different, Uncle … [Read more...]
A Life Well Lived :: In Memory of Esther Burgess
When I met Esther she easily made the list of women I admired most in life. I met her about two thirds of her way through a ten year battle with terminal cancer. Her beautiful singing voice had already been silenced to a whisper when her vocal cord was accidently paralyzed in one of her multiple surgeries over the years. She was already struggling … [Read more...]