• Family

    The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

    I was born at 5:05 pm on March 5, 1975, which was my Granddaddyโ€™s 50th birthday. I love the month of Marchโ€ฆand the number 5! I also love that I was named after my Granddaddyโ€™s mother, Carrie Elizabeth. In turn,…

  • Family

    On Parenting Yourself

    Hereโ€™s what Iโ€™ve discovered: My firstborn daughter is the most like me. Hereโ€™s what else Iโ€™ve discovered: She is quite often the most difficult child for me to parent. And I think I know why. So many of the things…

  • Family,  Marriage

    On Handling Conflict

    My husband and I donโ€™t have a lot of disagreements. And when we do disagree, weโ€™re not loud about it. There was a particular time several years ago when we were having an argument in the kitchen, and our children…

  • Marriage

    Different Is Good

    “You aren’t going to change him,” Dorothy said with an I-know-you-wish-you-could tone in her voice. My then future mother-in-law and I were standing in the doorway of my fiance’s bedroom and were amazed–and a little scared–by what we saw. There were clothes…