Clik here to view.
Damsels, distress, and ethics
Like any young damsel in distress, I always dreamed that a knight on a white horse would rescue me someday. Didn’t matter what the distress was. Maybe it was my night to do dishes. Maybe I forgot to do...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Life, and how we move through it
As I walked through the forest on my son’s birthday yesterday, I reflected on how challenging life has been since the moment, 12 years ago, when he was born. At the same time, I’ve grown weary of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Destiny, boys, and men
How I failed to meet my Destiny As I was washing dishes in my teens one day, I looked out the window and “saw” a joyful little girl on a swing, her pigtails flying behind her. Perhaps, I thought, this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Waiting
Every day, the dog lies in the shade of the willow tree, but does not remember why. Does not remember the man who disappeared over the rise in the gravel road, as he’d done so many times before. Does...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The fortress
The day I walked through the doors of Gifford Grade School at the beginning of third grade, I entered my sixth school. By then, my father’s career in the military had taken my family from: McChord Air...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Lighthouse
Men in boats about to capsize, look to my light with longing. Envy my firm footing. Do not know whether they should hold on to their wrecked ships or swim to shore. They assume I’ve always been here,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Judgment day
When I was in the fourth grade, my younger brother, sister, and I responded to an altar call at the Bible Baptist church in Rantoul, Illinois. Now, it wasn’t like we weren’t Christians before. Mom had...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Recovering from emotional bankruptcy
Grief, by Kris Wiltse, for the Mixed Emotions card deck Last Tuesday, while my son was at his father’s over spring break, I broke down. I came home from work, crawled into bed and cried, fell asleep,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Soul mates, courage, and happiness
The “Happy” image from the Mixed Emotions card deck (c) 2012 Kris WiltseIf I were blind, how would you explain “yellow” to me? “It looks like the sun feels on your skin,” perhaps. Or, “It looks like...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Grandpa’s role in history
Danny, my grandma, died in August–a few days after her 94th birthday. My grandfather died decades ago, but it wasn’t until Danny died that my uncles began sorting through the belongings they’d amassed...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The fortress
The day I walked through the doors of Gifford Grade School at the beginning of third grade, I entered my sixth school. By then, my father’s career in the military had taken my family from: McChord Air...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Judgment day
When I was in the fourth grade, my younger brother, sister, and I responded to an altar call at the Bible Baptist church in Rantoul, Illinois. Now, it wasn’t like we weren’t Christians before. Mom had...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bad boys
On Saturday night, I spent time with my reciprocally adopted five-year-old grandson Cooper. It was getting late, and I couldn’t find Charlotte’s Web, so I grabbed a German children’s book. We snuggled...
View ArticleClik here to view.
On loving, losing, and then loving again
When I was a freshman and sophomore in college, I was a youth group leader at our church. Jill, one of my “kids,” had lost her mother to cancer when she was nine, and like other women at church, I felt...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The mountains are bigger today
I live on a jewel of an island flanked by two mountain ranges. In the morning, the sun peeks over the Cascade Mountains, igniting the snow on the Olympics in shades of pink. And in the evenings, the...
View ArticlePetra comes out of the closet
When I turned 18, my parents urged me to register to vote so I could help defeat a school levy that would increase their property taxes. But at school, I realized that voting against the levy would...
View Article
