60 Feet 6 Inches To Home

It's crunch time.  Christmas is less than a week away and for some people the thought of that evokes a battery of emotions, not all of them Jolly. Let's face it, the holidays can create a lot of stress and anxiety. There is a lot to get done. Decorating, shopping, wrapping, baking, Christmas cards, mailing packages, parties and so on. Our lists can rival those of Santa himself. This Christmas my list was no different than most, it was long and time consuming, not to mention expensive. When I started thinking about completing all the tasks listed there, I'll be honest, I felt more like the Grinch than Cindy Lou Who.  I did not like feeling that way, something had to change. My priorities, my perspective, my expectations, my attitude or maybe a little bit of all of those things. I decided to evaluate all of the things that threatened to interfere with how I wanted to celebrate Christmas this year. For each entry on my list I asked myself the same questions: Why am...

Photo by Owen Richards Holidays are usually full of traditions. Growing up, Christmas was especially this way for my family. Decorating the tree was an event. We all helped. We had a live tree and most years we went out to a tree farm, picked out the one we wanted, cut it down and brought it home. We decorated it with the same ornaments from year to year. We covered it in multi-colored blinking lights, garland and silver icicles. The lights stayed off until the decorating was completely done. Then we shut off all the lights in the room and plugged the tree in. It made it seem very magical as a young girl. We usually took a trip to The Country Club Plaza and drove down Falmouth Street took look at lights. On Christmas Eve we each opened one gift. It was always the same thing, new pajamas. We didn't care that is was the same thing, we were still excited to get them. Christmas morning everyone had to be awake and come into the living room at the same time. Santa never wrapped ...

I passed this sign in early August at a small church in Bonner Springs, Kansas. We were on our way to pick up my son's car from our mechanic after a pre-college tune up. On the way back I stopped to take this picture. I had forgotten about it until I was scrolling through my gallery and came across it. With tomorrow being Thanksgiving I thought the timing was perfect. In a culture that thrives on upgrades, trade-ins, promotions and excess, it can sometimes be easy to to lose sight of what matters most and how great our lives truly are. I love these words and I wonder if we were to stop and think about them, would we realize that for the large majority of us they're true. I did just that, and this is what I found... I live in a great country, not perfect, but great none the less. I am thankful to live here. I am also extremely grateful for the men and women who have and continue to defend and serve "The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave". I also li...

A week or so ago I read an article on line and later found it in video form. It was titled " What Students Really Need to Hear". The article was written more like a letter from a teacher to their students and focuses on the need to teach our children lessons not written in text books. Things like resilience, problem solving, hard work, persistence, how to except challenges and manage fear. The author C. Mielke writes; "You see the main event of school is not academic learning. It never has been.  Yes, algebra, essay writing, Spanish, the judicial process-all are important and worth knowing, but not the main event.  The main event is learning how to deal with the harshness of life when it gets difficult." I am not an educator, but I see the need for these skills everyday working as an elementary school secretary and a mother of two boys. A forgotten lunch for example can be enough to bring some children to tears, while others deal with it in stride. A not so fav...

A year a go at this time our oldest son, Kellan had just decided where he would attend college. The process was both exciting and stressful. My husband and I did not attend college the traditional way, so this was all new to us. His decision was made somewhat more difficult because he wanted to play baseball at the college level. So finding a school that would be a fit both in academics and baseball proved to be a little more challenging. We completed all the steps and collected all of the requirements.  ACT, GPA, NCAA eligibility, applications, unofficial visits, official visits, and scholarships. We knew God had already figured it out, we just needed to relax and get out of the way. We were relieved once the decision had been made, but it also made what was once a distant day in time closer to a reality. Getting settled.  So, here we are one year later. We have navigated through a lot of uncharted territory. There were things I expected but just as many that I didn't s...

Most years the end to the regular Major League Baseball season is a sullen time for our family. We love watching our boys in blue play the game we love. This year however is different. After a 29 year drought the Royals are in the post season. It is officially Blue October in Kansas City. This team and I have a history. I was born in May of 1969 in a suburb of Kansas City. Later that summer, the Royals, one of four MLB expansion teams played their first game at old Municipal Stadium. The team replaced the Athletics's that had recently moved to Oakland. As a young girl I listening to the Royals on the radio. At the time I understood very little about the game itself, but I enjoyed it's tempo and the consistency of hearing Denny Matthews' voice calling the plays. I knew the players whose numbers are retired and celebrated on the Hall of Fame wall at Kauffman Stadium, along with their skipper Dick Howser. Our lucky cap is working so far! I was in high school in ...

Everyone has experienced disappointment in their lifetime. It may have been a team they were cut from, a college they weren't accepted to, a job they didn't get or a relationship that didn't work out. And it comes tied to a variety of emotions ranging from sadness and grief to anger and resentment. Weather on a personal, professional or relational level disappointment is always hard to deal with. Recently we had such an experience in our family. After sitting out of football his eighth grade year due to suffering a  concussion the prior season, Owen had his heart set on playing this year for his high school team. He attended the football camp offered by the high school coaching staff and joined their summer weightlifting and conditioning program. He was working hard and his plan was in place and going well. Until...he injured his back during weightlifting. He tried to push through and did not even admit anything was wrong until several days later. He continued to play bas...