Hazelnuts, Sour Candy, and Love
Two weeks into the new year, and my Christmas stockings are still hanging. Not with care, though. Santa has come and gone, and now the stockings hang sadly, judging me for not putting them away. They’re quieter than the Christmas tree that is practically screaming at me. [I’m working on it.] But I have five kids, and learning to tune out the noise is a survival skill. So, these Christmas decorations linger. Most of the stockings are empty, but mine has a handful of Ferrero Rochers still nestled in the toe. I typically get them on holidays because they’re special chocolate. I don’t know if it’s special because they’re gold…
New Year’s Do Over
Can I take a mulligan and try this again? It’s been almost a year since I’ve posted. At the start of last year, I was hopeful that I would get back into the flow of writing, but no such luck. After all, writing is a piece of me, but less puzzle and more Lego. It doesn’t neatly click into place and produce the completed picture of Lauren. Instead, my little 2×3 piece gets pulled apart, set aside, and eventually knocked off the table until I summon the energy to pull it from the dust. Then, I work to find a new place where it fits until life gets crazy [crazier]…
New Year, Old Me (possibly)
There’s something special about January. The second hand shifts from one side of the clock to the other, our phone calendars flip to the next month and a new year, and it feels like we’re given a clean slate. Resolutions are made as we envision the kind of person we will be in the new year. Personal health goals like exercising regularly, cutting out sodas and/or alcohol, or, for the truly determined, not lying to the dentist when she asks if you floss regularly. Or maybe the goals are home-oriented, like decluttering one space each week, finally sticking with that cleaning schedule, or the ambitious, folding and putting away laundry…
Mining for Truth
What is truth? In this world of confusion and speculation, how do I sort the facts from the fiction, the truths from the half-truths, the outright lies from the well-meaning misinformed? It’s an age-old question, but in this time of technology and information, truth seems to be especially hidden, obscured beneath murky waters. Like many people, I have been hoping to find it in a documentary, an academic article, or a presidential press conference. Maybe I can mine it out, scoop and sift to separate golden nuggets of truth from the silt of lies and deception. But to what end? To stand in the virtual world of social media arguing…
Telling Whoppers
The other night, my dad and I were driving with a car full of boys. The four boys ranged in age from 4 to 13, and their conversations were comical and varied; farts, dogs, superheroes, and all manner of randomness. Their energy was pinging around the car, a last hurrah before getting home for bedtime. I was only partially listening to their conversation when my ears picked on a whopper of a tale coming from the backseat. A story from one of the boys about how he helped a wolf in his backyard. “Fortunately” this little boy was a hero, calmly letting the wolf out and away from his dogs.…
New Year, New Me
It’s amazing how much changes in a year: seasons, Superbowl Champions, the menu at your favorite restaurant, whether jumpsuits are fashionable or not, a few more lines on your face. January of 2016 God set me on a path of putting Him first, of learning how to trust in Him, and showing that faith in action. Part of that was because 12 months later He would bring Wonder Woman into our lives. I don’t say the culmination of that, because I know God has a heck of a lot more to do in my life (He started a long time ago), but this is a huge mile marker in that…
