Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

  I've noticed that as I grow older, I've started to enter a rite of passage- looking at catalogs.  My mother loaned me one of those catalogs that specialize in things for senior citizens when I was experiencing back pain.  I found a nifty back stretcher, and since then, I have been bombarded with senior catalogs.  At one time, I laughed at the polyester pants and bunion-repair shoes.  But I've noticed, as I get older, some of the items are starting to look useful.  I still refuse to buy my wardrobe from the senior's catalog, but I did see some gadgets that I couldn't resist.  I placed my order and then waited for my "as-seen-on-tv" items to arrive.  I waited, and waited, and waited until a package arrived for me.  I opened my package to find two pairs of shoes from China, not my purchases.  I called the customer help-line and desperately tried to explain to the very nice Asian woman that I had not received what I had ordered.  Instead, I had received tw

  My husband and I have began the slow return to our exercise routine.  I'm not sure if any of you can relate, but COVID quarantine/stress did not help my waistline.  The mix of eating my feelings instead of verbally chewing off the head of my loved ones in fellow quarantine, the stress of dealing with teaching in a virtual/mixed/quarantine world, and the pure boredom of quarantine stewed together to create a pot of pounds .  I learned something from all of this.  People need routines in their lives.  Being trapped in homes last year led to some simple decisions.  First, we attempted home improvement, thus fighting off hoards of people in the home improvement stores.  After my desire to remodel and money ran out, we bonded through games and singing.  However, being together so much caused a weariness that even the Von Trapp family would be singing, "So Long, Fare Well, etc..."  You get my point.   This led to binge-watching Netflix series to a mind-numbing degree.  Event

If you haven't guessed, this weekend, I dropped another one of my children off at college.  My oldest has already been at college a few years.  Now, it was time to deliver my daughter to her new home away from home.  Since Aimee is the second-born twin, she has always said that she is the middle, middle child.  There is even a joke saying, "Today is National Middle Child Day, but no one celebrated because no one noticed."   Aimee told me that I wouldn't be as sad as when her older brother went to college.  She was wrong.  Yes, I teared up multiple times.  Any mother out there knows that when their child leaves the nest, it's easy for worry to set in.  You begin to ask yourself if they are doing well; are they eating enough; are they getting enough sleep; are they lonely?  As a parent, you can't turn off that instinct.  The problem is that the instinct is still there but they aren't so you have no way of knowing the answer to those questions.  This leaves

As my husband and I drove by a local pond this morning, we saw this pastoral scene of cows cooling in a pond while a flock of ducks stood by watching.  It reminded me of summer camp when swimming pool time was divided into groups.  If one group went overtime, then the other group would stand by the pool staring.  It was like the ducks were saying, "Get out of the pool!  It's our turn now!"  This got me thinking about waiting.  People struggle with waiting.  Have you found yourself getting frustrated at a drive-thru restaurant when your food takes longer than five minutes?   Have you gotten frustrated at a stoplight when it takes longer than you think it should?  How about if it skips your turn, and you end up waiting through two light changes?  How about waiting in a Walmart check-out line?  Now that everything is self-checkout, there are only a couple of lines that are manned by a cashier.  If you are paying cash or have a cart filled with groceries, you want a cashier

First, I should preface this by saying this. This mental pause is brought to you by menopause! As I get older, there are crazy moments in my life where I honestly feel like a shipwreck.  Two days ago, I called my dog by my son's name.  Of course, he did not respond.  It gets better.  I started the day by making myself a nice cup of coffee.  When my daughter brought me my watery coffee, I realized that I forgot to put the coffee pod in the coffee maker.   I spent 10 minutes this morning trying to tell my daughter that I forgot to bring garlic powder to church for a potluck.  It took me 10 minutes because I couldn't remember what the garlic powder was called.  No, I am not having a stroke.  I have just started having mental pauses.  Moments when I just can't think of something or remember what I was doing.  There's also the moments when you feel like you are heating up from the inside out.  My poor daughter's boyfriend was standing in front of the oven just to stay