When I was a very small girl, Dad and I went on a carnival ride. They called it the Octopus. Maybe you’ve heard about it and its ridiculous tentacles. I was terrified throughout the ride, but the end is most indelibly impressed in my memory. I remember lying on my back as the ride came …
Life Without Dad: Uncertainty
I am not a fan of heights. In fact, I once wrote an entire blog about that. Despite my distaste for high places, I love hiking in the mountains. I’m not a blaze-your-own trail, wander-through-the-wilderness, hike-for-days-on-end kind of hiker—but I love a good day-hike on a well-groomed, well-MARKED trail. Several years ago, I had the …
Life Without Dad: Life in the Past Tense
Last summer, two friends kept suggesting we spend a day at this place their parents had taken them to as children. They remembered driving to a lake that dried up each summer. They insisted it was called “Big Dry,” but no one else seemed to know anything about it. I got out a map to …
Life Without Dad: I’m Goin’ In
I’ve always had this amazing dread of the underneath side of the house. Not a fear, just a dread of the mud and the spiders and the dark—and the spiders hiding in the dark, waiting to take up residence in my hair. But, this week I found myself tweeting this: “Goin’ in…Here’s hoping I come …
Life Without Dad
[Note: This was written Sunday night. I apologize for the delay in getting it posted.] It’s 12:45 a.m., and I’m wide-awake. I was almost asleep when I suddenly realized if I’m going to mow tomorrow, I should charge the weed-eater’s battery. I argued with myself for a while, trying to figure out if I could …