This story has both a happy ending and a sad one. — They will know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love. — Popular Christian song written by Father Peter Scholtes Lately, most evangelical Christian churches don’t feel very loving. At least not if you are LGBTQ+ or any kind of…

I’m twisting this to my advantage — There are a few topics of conversation Mom brings up over and over: the weather, the Psalms, and other people's failing memory. “It’s so sad. I just don’t know how I would cope if I had dementia.” I can answer that question for you Mom. Not well. …

Back in the glory days of mixtapes — Nothing, not even returning to the gorgeous body I inhabited at age 16, would convince me to start life over as a high schooler again. Apart from physical aging which truly sucks, each decade of my life so far has been better than the one before. But the music of…

Can it be done even from an ocean away? — “Let me hold on to your money so you don’t lose it,” Mom takes the coins out of my hand and slips them into her purse. “I’ll give it back as soon as you’re ready to spend it.” Five decades later I’m saying the same thing to her. Is this…

Just like breaking up with my first boyfriend — As Ronald Reagan famously said, I didn’t leave Twitter. Twitter left me. Twitter is no more. Poof. Gone. X’d out of existence by a capricious bazillionaire. I quit cold turkey the day the little blue bird was replaced with a black X. It was the final proof I needed there…

This one has heart, soul, and a kickass family who really save the day — I’m the kind of movie watcher who wanders off for snacks during the fight scenes. I’m not squeamish about violence, I just find it boring. It’s all about the story for me, the relationships, depth, and growth. Blue Beetle kept me in my seat. I’ve noped out of the middle…

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner — Nothing successful stays stagnant in this wide world of the world wide web. I’ve been on Medium for almost three years which is time enough to see features flitter through like fruitflies. One of my favorites is lists. With over 500 published stories on Medium, I can’t keep track of…

Football, feminism, and the future — It nearly didn’t happen. With a game starting at 11:00 am local time, I figured hitting the pubs at 10:30 am was great timing. The first pub I walked into was perfect. Large space, excited crowd, and multiple giant screens so every seat had a good view. Too bad all…

Handy reading for parents who can’t let go — Nothing is quite so empty as the house you walk back into after dropping off your kid at college. Soon you’ll settle into the patterns of this more hands-off stage of parenting but right now you don’t quite know what to do with yourself. You try distraction but your thoughts…