Just under the surface of our smiles, many of us have stories we’d rather not share. Maybe it’s a decision from a long time ago that we wish we could redo, or maybe it just happened this morning. Parenthood has a way of stirring up stories from our past.

I remember your laugh

When we were out

How the whole room

Would fill with that sound

I used to think I was missing out on something by not being raised in a Christian home. The evangelical world taught me this — in their language, in their judgment, in the look on their faces. I felt unwhole, broken, kind of scrapped together, when I sat in a room with people who had grown up in the crowning family.

It was her first garden since she was a little girl growing up in Illinois. For me, it was blood, sweat, and tears.

When I was younger, my mom used to say I took myself too seriously. And it made me so angry at her for such a long time.

It all begins with an idea.

It all begins with an idea.