Beth Wise

Tag: gratitude

  • Too Damn Good

    Too Damn Good

    ”     In that moment, in Missouri, with the screeching motor of boats racing by, I was scared to wade into any emotional pool deeper than an inch, but I appreciated the opportunity to dip my toe in and feel the cool waters of gratitude and love for a second.”

  • Is It Worth It? Let Me Work It

    Is It Worth It? Let Me Work It

    We took a last summer hoorah to Galveston beach a few weeks ago. The big boys and Alex took the car and went deep sea fishing. No worries. Our AirBnB had a community pool that was far, far away from my immortal enemy Beach Sand. I wrangled the Baby into his swimsuit, lugged him downstairs,…

  • A Holy Community

    A Holy Community

    I’ve been in Adult ESL for 11 years now. (That’s English as a Second Language, not Extra Sensory Perception, as I sometimes get.) I started as the front line office person for a bustling non-profit that had set up shop in the middle of the highest densely populated area of Dallas, right where all the…

  • 29 for my 29th

    Did you know that, in some countries, you are considered 1 year old when you are born? It’s true. Sometimes, refugee families come in to my work and they tell me that the child with the pacifier and the diaper who is barely verbal is three years old. So, then we have to get the…

  • For the Teachers Who Rock

    Dear teachers who rock, I come from a long line of excellent teachers who also rock(ed). My paternal grandfather was a Methodist minister. My maternal grandmother and aunt both taught high school English. My mom was a high school chemistry teacher. I remember spending summers up at school in her classroom, while she cleaned and…

  • What to Expect When We’re Expecting (a 9-Year-Old)

    What to Expect When We’re Expecting (a 9-Year-Old)

    1. I will cry all the time at the drop of a hat. I cried at church. I cried after watching a viral video of a high school student doing a Michael Jackson dance at a pep rally. I cried in the parking lot of a homeless church. Hopefully, after I meet him, I will cry…

  • You Guys Make Me Feel Normal

    Even though I have always wanted to adopt and I know that this is the right decision and the beginning of a great adventure, I have mourned basically throughout this entire process about the loss of being able to experience the “normal” celebratory parts of having a child. When we told people we were adopting…

  • The Splinters of Entitlement

    When you guys are ready to adopt and you come to me freaking out about the home study, I will give you three key pieces of advice: 1.  Make sure to remove the beer that you use to wash your hair with from under your bathroom sink. (Beer in the bathroom doesn’t bode well for…

  • 2013: A Year in Review

    Well, friends, Man, what a year. I, for one, am glad that the world did not end in 2012.  If I had to characterize this year as one thing, I would say it was the YEAR OF LEARNING. I’m getting older and, I actually feel it, a little wiser. Yes, I still have BIG FEELINGS…

  • He has. He is. He will.

    Over Thanksgiving, my family went to go see the second Hunger Games movie. My mother, who is a beacon of pleasantness, spent most of the movie with her hands over her eyes. After the movie, we were talking about the parts that we liked and the parts that we didn’t and my mother remarked that…