Tag: community

Trading the Porch for an iPhone

She carried a knitted hat as she walked into the restaurant. Her disabled son only a step or two behind her. He slid into the booth. She walked up to the table where I sat with my coffee. "Put this on my bill," she[..]
Read More

13 10 , 2019 No Comments
Share
Butts to the Wind

Like much of the nation, I have been following the hurricane news. My daughter was in Wilmington, , NC, on Monday and Tuesday so I followed it in part to keep her informed. As one of her friends remarked to me, "Not exactly the time[..]
Read More

05 09 , 2019 No Comments
Share
Build a Better Community: Invest in Women

Over $200,000. That's how much money was raised at the 7th annual Women's Fund of East Tennessee luncheon in mid-April. As the keynote, I was delighted to play a small role in this year's event, which was dedicated the formidable Betsy Bush. Much to my regret,[..]
Read More

07 05 , 2018 1 Comment
Share
If you’re a Nashville fan

From 2004-2013, I worked on my first novel, Mother of Rain (Mercer University Press). It was hard work. I was trying to tackle a lot of things all at once. Put aside the fact that I had never really written fiction. I'd been a journalist. An opinion[..]
Read More

02 04 , 2016 No Comments
Share
Life in the Bubble

I was driving over the pass today, headed from one state to the next, from one grandson to the next, from one daughter to the next, doing that thing women have done ever since we could stand on our own two feet - helping. It[..]
Read More

14 05 , 2015 4 Comments
Share
Participating in the Remarkable

Before leaving Georgia the other day, I made a stop in Pine Mountain to visit Miss Lillian. She did not know I was coming, so she let out a small squeal of delight when I walked into the kitchen. “This is my friend who[..]
Read More

02 10 , 2014 No Comments
Share
A Good Kind of Lonely

I was talking with a friend recently. She's moved to a new community, started a new job, is in a new relationship. To the casual observer everything looks hunky-dorey. Everything is hunky-dorey most of the time. But there are these moments - moments like[..]
Read More

17 07 , 2014 5 Comments
Share
Guide Mama

Miz Shelby guest blogging from Guatemala. Over half a dozen children sit quietly at the small wooden table. They all look younger than five. We are gathered at the home of Marta, a Madre Guía or Guide Mother, to watch the women prepare and[..]
Read More

12 09 , 2013 No Comments
Share
God’s Grandchildren: Your Handiwork

Church Lady Clothesline by Janie McGee Some years ago, my daughter Shelby and I were traveling across country. I've gone back and forth so many times, in so many ways -- except boat, never taken a boat across country -- that I can't remember[..]
Read More

07 07 , 2012 No Comments
Share