Category: 2016
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Right Now
Sometimes I catch myself thinking a lot about the past, other times about the future. Focusing on the present moment – the Right Now – can be tough. I know I need to run toward meditation, yoga, and deep breathing as ways to help me stay in the present moment, consistently. And, I’ll get there.…
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Adjusted Expectations
I remember how uncomfortable and downright ornery I’d get at times as a new mother. Despite talking with actual parents of actual babies for guidance before our firstborn arrived, I expected a newborn who would sleep all night (nope, for both our kids). I expected to feel confident as a new mom – you know,…
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Sugar Tongue
While I’m 99.9% positive I’ll never be the earth angel my mom was, I do carry a lot of her in me. For as long as I can recall, my dad has often said, “Karin is like her mother. She can lay you out and tell you about yourself, while making you feel good in…
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How Are You?
I can be such a busybody. Like so many women, I’m a multi-tasker who wears many life hats. Wife. Mom. Daughter-caregiver. Wage earner. Friend. My life is organized across 9 color-coded calendars, and to-do lists are my constant companions. Even as I check off items, I realize the lists aren’t actually going anywhere. They’re like…
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State of Emergency
This is not what I planned to write and post this month. I write about stretching and growing our minds and spirits. And my latest post – that kind of blog post – is sitting in my Drafts folder in WordPress, waiting for me to hit the Publish button. But that draft feels irrelevant today.…
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A Happy Surprise
Ever notice how life has a funny way of repeating lessons we most need to learn? We think we’ve mastered an annoying habit that’s plagued us for years, that we’re waaaaay down the road on finally conquering it, once and for all. Then life jumps out and yells, “Surprise!” – and the same habit taunts…
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Tough Cookie
My dad is, as one of my aunts calls it, a tough little knot. A real tough cookie. At 85 years young, his resilience and sense of humor are fully intact. He wakes up each day happy as a clam. And that’s despite being a reluctant widower; dementia creeping its way in; and painful arthritis…
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Know the Script
My mom was an earth angel. Her warm spirit made others feel they were her most favorite people in the world. Everyone loved her. The only people who waffled were the women who wanted to marry my dad. Because he’s an earth angel, too.
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Life Is With People
Before becoming a freelancer, I worked in grant development for over 15 years at our school district. I was a nonprofit girl previously, a child advocate on an altruistic, fight-the-power perch. I’d never navigated a government bureaucracy from the inside. I honestly thought I’d do the new job for 2, maybe 3, years tops. I actually told…
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Thank You! (Ummm, I Think?)
Granny Sykes was a hoot. Born in 1905 in North Carolina, Effie Burt moved to Virginia as a young woman. She met and married my grandfather, David Sykes. Some years after he died, Granny Sykes moved in with our family when I was about 13 years old. My parents cared for her until she passed away…
