When we first moved to Dallas, we made some colorful friends who were actors at Scarborough Renaissance Festival- King Henry and a Contessa, to be exact. During October, the Scarborough Fair grounds become a spooky maze of haunted houses, Scary-oke, expensive food vendors, and a throng of tweens looking to snuggle up to their crush …
Tuesday, 7/11/2023, Nashville Airport 2:08 pm I wasn’t anxious about this until we popped open the back of my sister’s van. It’s not the actual flying that concerns me. The Baby is almost chronically un-anxious, as in, he is not anxious even when he probably should be, like when he tries to drown himself by …
January 23, 2023 Dear Mr. Sedaris, My son, {The Baby}, came screeching into the world via an emergency c-section at 26 weeks- a two-pound potato whose vital organs needed lots of assistance to keep him alive. I met him for the first time four months later, when his birthmother invited me to visit the Neonatal …
I remember talking about atheism and agnosticism in my world religions class in high school. In my little conservative corner of West Texas, we didn’t spend much time talking about the godless heathens, but I remember the description of Clockmaker god, who designed the world, perfectly calibrated all of it’s gears and dials, and then …
Let me preface the beginning of this series with a few things: I’m gonna take weekends off for my “writing every day” goal in November. I can do this because I’m a grown ass woman and I want to. I want to explicitly acknowledge that I have AMAZING parents who did the best with what …
Last August, my little family met my parents in Estes Park. We have done this trip every couple of years since I was a kid. We stay in cabins and hike and explore and breathe in the fresh mountain air. COVID made things a little different, but we were just happy to escape Dallas for …
Well, today the Wise family said hello to a new bed and goodbye to two of The Baby’s teeth. A few months ago, we started the laborious process of getting a SleepSafe bed approved through The Baby’s insurance because his crib had become unsafe. He was able to stand up in it and when he …
The Baby turned five this week. It’s crazy. All of those five years tend to blur together. After all, time flies when you’re drowning in medical chaos (just kidding…kind of). On the night of his birthday, our dinner conversation centered around remembering all of his firsts- the first time he sat up, the first solid …
(You can listen to an audio version of this post here.) I went to David’s Bridal today to purchase a bridesmaid’s dress for a friend’s wedding next summer. She had a dress already picked out in the system so they pulled her profile up and I followed the very nice saleslady to the racks laden …
(I realize this is very lengthy so I have strategically placed pictures of smiling animals throughout the piece so that you can mark your place if you need to take a break and come back to it. At my sister’s suggestion, I’ve also made an audio version of this blog. You can download/stream it by …
I grew up in West Texas- land of wide-open spaces, sky high teen pregnancy rates, and a colorblind racial ideology that masks racism instead of confronting it. In colorblind ideology, it is impolite to talk about someone’s race. I remember hearing a story about a friend who was trying to tell her son which store …
I just got back from San Francisco. I went to (hides face) a Christian conference. I found myself hesitant to tell people that it was a Christian conference because of the connotations of that. My sense is that many Christian conferences are lame attempts at pep rallies for God, the adult version of church camp, …
“What was I thinking?” I thought as I stared forlornly into the mirror. I should have known better than to impulsively stop at the hair salon directly adjacent to the Tom Thumb, still clutching my bag of avocados. I was hoping for a cute haircut before I left on my 10th anniversary weekend trip. Instead, …
I was a mere 21 years old when I got married. My uncle officiated our wedding. Before the wedding, my then-fiancee, now-husband, Alex, and I drove down to Corpus to do some premarital counseling sessions and stay with my aunt and uncle. After one of these sessions, Alex and I got ready to leave and …
I went to a vigil in Balch Springs for Jordan Edwards last week. It was everything you would want a vigil to be- beautiful and sad and moving and comforting. Like most, I was horrified by Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice’s deaths. I have been deeply affected before by deaths caused by police brutality, but …
I had a great time at A&M hanging out with some Indonesian friends. My best bud from East Asia’s name was Fadhliani. We did a cultural exchange of sorts. I took her horseback riding and we jumped on a trampoline and she showed me how to make this spicy little number. (A little aside: She … Continue reading
I think that it might be physically impossible for me to eat a low carb diet. Sure, I could blame it on the startling amount of chocolate and delicious breads that I recently received from my in-laws and work buddies but my mother-in-law did NOT put cinnamon streusel muffins in my cart at Kroger on … Continue reading
I’ve been having recurring dreams for the last few weeks. It’s not recurring like falling dreams or being chased by a mobster dream. My recent visions all have the same theme, if you will. Lately, dream Beth has been dropped into a social situation, missing an important part of clothing. Think- meeting the president while not wearing any pants. He doesn’t seem … Continue reading
Some of my favorite times spent with Alex are when he is laughing at me. Let me rephrase. Some of my favorite times are when I make him laugh- like when a neighbor jokingly asks if I want some chewing tobacco, and I say, “Heck yeah, I swallowed my plug this morning” or I rap about my … Continue reading
Oh yes, today I turn 25- a quarter of a century. I might still look like I’m in fifth grade, but I can now rent a car in any state and if I was a boy, my car insurance would decrease. So, put that in your “Who cares about 25?” pipe and smoke it! I … Continue reading
My family and I spent last weekend hocking our wares at the famous First Monday Trade Days in the tee-niney town of Canton, Tx. We didn’t sell much, but we sure had fun. Our booth included the following small enterprises: Red Feather Canes- During his brief retirement, my father sought a hobby and found one in making … Continue reading
Okay, here’s another story for you that I didn’t have time to type last night. It’s probably my MOST embarassing moment. The setting: Freshman year at A&M. Fall. Leaves changing color. Cold enough for a sweater….and a scarf. I was on my way to an afternoon class. I felt like “dressing up” so I put … Continue reading
For our anniversary, Alex bought tickets to see the Blue Man Group at the new opera house here in Dallas. We went on Thursday. We got home from work and laid around for about an hour, dropped the dog off at the sitter’s (AKA Jesse and Diane’s), and drove downtown. Before we left, Alex asked … Continue reading
Dr. Terry Jones and followers- You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:43-46 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the … Continue reading
According the Wikipedia, throwing out the baby with the bath water is “an idiomatic expression used to suggest an avoidable error in which something good is eliminated when trying to get rid of something bad, or in other words, rejecting the essential along with the inessential.” As many of you might know, I climbed inside … Continue reading
welderbeth 