“Realizing I had no other choice, I lifted the dryer and turned it upside down and out dropped my cellphone,” Sara said as she described how she solved the dilemma of her cellphone falling down the dryer’s lint vent. This would be surprising enough if a burly football player-type had said it, but this was […]
I have a 104 year-old grandmother, Nonni.* Until recently, she lived by herself. Whenever I would go to visit her, I was always struck by how simple a life she lived compared to me. She lived in a tiny, one bedroom apartment with only a bed and a few pieces of furniture. She does not […]
Dealing with teenagers can be a real challenge. A typical teenager is concerned with one thing in their lives: themselves. As a result, they tend to make their relationship with their parents very transactional. They expect to request and to receive, and nothing more. Give them the car keys, and they are happy. Give them money […]
About a year after my divorce was final, I moved fifteen miles into a more modest home. It was a really big step overall. I was moving my three young kids to a new neighborhood and new schools. I was moving into a house that needed a fair amount of remodeling. Plus, I hadn’t even […]
I thought that once my divorce was final, life would get back to some sense of normal and most of my divorce-related struggles would disappear. Yeah, right. I quickly discovered that the primary change was the types of struggles I faced, not struggles themselves. My main struggle initially was committing to a chaste lifestyle. That one […]
Every summer, right after school gets out, we head down to the beach for our summer break. During one recent trip, I was driving into town early one morning to pick up a few things for breakfast. The drive is about four miles long with a sidewalk that runs along one side of the road. […]
I will never forget the morning after my marriage crumbled. It was as if I woke up into a nightmare. I could not believe what was happening to me, my children, and my marriage. It was surreal. I just wanted to close my eyes and hope that I was really still asleep and would wake […]
I often equate recovering from divorce to recovering from a near-fatal car accident. You emerge from divorce with your emotional well-being on life support. Every day can bring an avalanche of pain. Relief can be nowhere in sight. Just as physical therapy is used to help mend a broken body, your faith can help mend a […]
I remember when I was in the throes of my divorce, one of my co-workers said, “I know this is difficult. You deserve to be happy.” I thought, “Yea, she’s right. I do deserve to be happy!” I approached happiness like some kind of life achievement, like graduating from high school. I wanted to graduate from […]
Do you think that you’re not getting God’s attention by your prayers? We pray heart-felt prayers for intentions that we feel certain God should answer. We pour out our hearts day after day, yet we feel as though nobody is listening. Sometimes we wonder if God even cares. Well, consider the story of St. Monica. St. […]