Valor’s Quote of the Day

Picture this: Mom and Kelly in the front seat and Valor and Percy safely strapped in the back; we stop quickly at a yellow light. Valor removes his thumb from his mouth to exclaim, “Mom! I just felt inertia in my body because the car stopped, but my body kept going.” He then replaces his…

What Kind of Music Do You Listen to?

Don’t you hate that question? Me too. It’s like saying, “What have you ever eaten?” Or “What colors have you seen today?” It’s too broad, too overwhelming, too diverse to narrow down. I can’t give you a list of everything on my iPod, but I can tell you about the most meaningful music in my…

Everest Challenge

“I’m just going to do an easy mile and a half tonight to get ready for the race.” Yes, that string of words escaped my mouth last week and I never thought I would be able to say them. I spent decades avoiding the run with the following misguided logic, “We are finite creatures. Therefore,…

Band-Aids of Acknowledgement

Imagine you’re three years old. Just a tyke, full of imagination and no limits in sight. Always exploring. Always moving. Always playing. Your sense of adventure is often much larger than your height. And sometimes that over-eagerness leads to bumps and bruises, scrapes and scuffles. So you, adventurous three year old, fall down, scrape a…

Exploring the Everyday

“Oh, Miss Kelly, let’s do more exploring! I love exploring with you!” This guy, Valor, makes my heart happy. We went out to eat in quaint, downtown New Bern and then wandered around the downtown area. He held on tightly to my hand and we walked, and looked, and took the road less traveled. We…

Hurry Up and Wait

I’m in the airport right now. I checked in online, went through security, had my prized, homemade “Kelly Jelly” confiscated due to being over 3 ounces, (Alas! Alack!) bought some Starbucks, and arrived at my gate. And now I wait. (At least I’m traveling with my laptop this time. This is a first for me and…

Why I Write

This is all out stolen. Not plagiarized. Just stolen. But at least it’s referenced. I’m giving credit to Leigh McLeroy, one of my all-time favorite authors. I got this email from her recently and I loved every word. It describes why I write– because I must.   Why I Write    From my first Big…

Mother’s Day Woes

How was your Mother’s Day? I realized yesterday how complicated a question that truly is. We have such expectations for holidays, but we don’t live in Norman Rockwell’s paintings. Our relationships are broken, full of longing and blocked goals. How was your Mother’s Day? Do you have a good relationship with your mother? Did you…