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Monday, February 17, 2020

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Stories of motherhood and of courage

Saturday, February 15, 2020 6:11 PM

“Do you have a story you can share about motherhood,” she asked. I almost laughed. Do I have stories? I’ve been a mother for nearly twenty-eight-years. I’ve mothered five children, a menagerie of pets, and an ex-husband. I’ve got stories.
Like that time I walked into the kitchen, and my eight-year-old son was dangling a snake across the breakfast table to show his sisters.
Me (as calmly as possible): “Son, please take the snake outside.”

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Better to have loved and lost at a bridge full of memories

Sunday, February 9, 2020 1:29 AM

Sometimes, when I am out and about, I realize that I am not quite ready to go home. I need to find some stillness within myself before jumping back into the midst of the household.
My vehicle has always been my safe place to think, feel, and just generally let my heart and mind wander in whatever direction they feel compelled.
This morning, after dropping the kids at school, I realized today was one of those “need to get to the bottom of this emotion” sort of days. I wasn’t entirely sure what the emotion was, but I knew with enough driving, I would figure it out. So, I aimlessly drove through town and along back roads while I pondered.

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If we grieved for all of them, we could never live

Sunday, February 2, 2020 1:47 AM

I was nine when Candy died. She was the first person I knew with a terminal illness. In my child’s mind, it seemed like she lived for a very long time after her diagnosis, but in reality, she was taken within a few short months.
My mom met her through the Temple Wives Association. We had moved to Tennessee a few months prior, so my dad could pursue ministerial studies at Temple College. My young, twenty-eight-year-old mother joined TWA in an attempt to make friends.

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Looks like Ginger’s going to make it after all

Saturday, January 18, 2020 8:32 PM

Tuesday morning I will be starting the next leg of my life’s journey. A new job in downtown Indianapolis! For years, I have dreamed of working downtown, probably due to the influences of Marlo Thomas and Mary Tyler Moore.
As a little girl, living in Pittsboro, Indiana (population 867), I was enthralled with the television shows depicting single women leaving small towns to make their way in the big city.

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Making the most of my unplanned vacation

Sunday, January 12, 2020 1:14 AM

It was a typical Friday the 13th. My favorite bracelet broke in three places, a bank glitch prevented me from accessing money, I got pulled over by a cop, my coffee order was wrong, and then I got fired.
I managed to stay fairly calm during the unexpected, and wholly unwarranted firing process, but once I left the office, all bets were off. I asked my fella to meet at a local pub, and over beers, and through my tears, I poured it all out.
“It’s just so unfair, and unreasonable. I actually got fired for HELPING someone. Yesterday, they said I was a rock star, and were talking about elevating me to a new position, then today, bam. How was I supposed to know I couldn’t give money to a down-on-his-luck employee? Isn’t that what decent human beings do? Apparently, corporate America is not about being decent. Or human. I mean, no respectable company fires a hard-working, single mom two weeks before Christmas.”

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Ginger looks at backside of 50 . . . figuratively AND literally

Saturday, January 4, 2020 10:02 PM

Journal Entry
December 20th, 2019
Morning of my fiftieth birthday
I am spending three days in a cabin, secluded on thirty acres. I planned to spend my time in solitude and reflection, culminating in a rebirthing ceremony at the exact time of my birth.

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Ginger goes back to dawn of the ’80, ahead to ‘20s

Sunday, December 29, 2019 1:52 AM

New Year’s Eve 1979, I had just turned ten-years-old. Even at that young age, it felt extremely significant to observe the dawn of a new decade. I wanted to make sure I never forgot the exact moment that it became “the eighties.”

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Ginger heard the bells on Christmas day

Sunday, December 22, 2019 4:00 AM

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of Peace on earth, good-will to men

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Fifty Years of Reflection and Forgiveness

Sunday, December 15, 2019 4:00 AM

“We’ve been planning a surprise, 1980s, prom-themed, murder mystery dinner.”
“Wow! You’ve put a lot of thought into that theme.”
I was trying to delicately tell my children that I appreciated the love and effort they were putting into my fiftieth birthday, but I had already made plans.
For some reason, in all of the scope of time, out of all ages past, and all that are yet to come, my human experience began on December 20th, 1969. I’ve already spent fifty years of it. Five decades. Half of a century. One-twentieth of a millennium.

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What is thankfulness? Ginger offers her definitions

Sunday, November 24, 2019 4:00 AM

Thankfulness is watching the sun rise on a crisp, fall day.
Thankfulness is ending the day knowing you can be proud of what you’ve accomplished.
Thankfulness is when you follow your instinct instead of conventional wisdom, and everything happens exactly as you knew it would.
Thankfulness is knowing you are not only okay alone, but that you are thriving on your own.
Thankfulness is when, after five years of thriving on your own, the person who has been dancing along the edges of your daydreams actually shows up.

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Finding peace and adventure in a grocery store

Sunday, November 17, 2019 4:00 AM

Due to my budding interest in Buddhism, on Saturday morning, I dragged the kids and my significant other to a documentary on Plum Village. The monastery in the south of France was founded by Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist Monk exiled from his home country of Vietnam. I’m drawn to the peace he called for and the practice of mindfulness that he teaches.
Afterward, we had lunch at Bru Burger, did a little Christmas shopping for my grandpup, and hit Amelia’s bakery for bread and cookies.

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Finding meaningful connections despite politics

Sunday, November 10, 2019 4:00 AM

I recently came across an article I wrote during the 2008 election. At that time, I was a conservative, Christian, homeschool mom who was excited that a “woman like me” might have a chance at the White House. The article addressed the disappointment I felt attending a party where talk centered around bashing Sarah Palin and her supporters.

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A house, a memory, a life lived . . . and lessons learned

Sunday, October 20, 2019 4:00 AM

The candles I chose for my bath are called Homesick-Tennessee and 1969 . . . not that I’m feeling melancholy. I thought I could make it home before having a great, spirit-cleansing cry, but I pulled to the side of the road and let it pour out.
Not realizing it is the shared birthday of my two oldest children, someone randomly sent a picture of the house where I lived when my first (now 27) was an infant. We moved there after leaving my beloved Tennessee for Indiana. It is where I lived when my second child (now 25) was born.

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Godmother learns valuable lesson about life

Sunday, October 13, 2019 4:00 AM

It’s not a good time to be a grandmother. Of my employees, four have recently had grandmothers who were rushed to the ER, and three had grandmas who passed away. One person had three or four grandmothers who died in a six-week period.
Having had a very close relationship to my own grandmother, I used to be sympathetic to these early morning calls. But now, I just feel sorry for the grandmas who, assuming they even exist, are repeatedly used as an excuse.

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Improving world a generation at a time

Sunday, October 6, 2019 4:00 AM

So, about those millennials…that generation of young people who became adults in the early 21st century. My adult children have an ongoing text discussion with the significant person in my life. They are millennials. He’s a baby boomer.
Many millennials feel they are trying to fix situations created by baby boomers. Baby boomers often label millennials as privileged and whiny…the original kids who grew up getting “participation awards” so no one would feel left out.

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