Fitness can rebuild what's broken. It can make you feel powerful, help you love yourself, and affirm your worth. It can teach you self-care and how to offer yourself a gift when you most need it.

We are a one-bar family. We mostly hike, kayak, canoe, and go off-road in our Jeep. The picture above shows me celebrating with Greg after canoeing 9 miles down the Etowah River. And we're still married!

It’s August, so of course, the Northern states are on my mind. I moved with my family from the Deep South to Michigan six years ago and was surprised to discover that different regions of the US can be pretty unique.

My gardens are a beautiful refuge from everyday obligations. They feature my favorite perennial, daylilies, also known as Hemerocallis. A fiery orange daylily from my 2025 garden.

My brother and I were raised as Unitarian Universalists, which taught us to approach religion differently from, for example, my Christian friends. During our Unitarian Sunday School classes, we had a session called Build Your Own Theology.

This photo still makes me laugh, no matter how many times I see it. That’s my nephew Jake, all 6 feet 4 inches of him. Clearly, someone ate all his vegetables growing up.

This post, which presents ten ideas, serves as my guide for living a mindful and intentional life. #5. Cherish your people is pictured. Shelly and I have been friends for a very long time, and we laugh a lot when we are together.

Stevie is a genius. I needed a feel-good song to boost my energy. This is the one!

She was beautiful, but not like those girls in magazines. She was beautiful for the way she thought.

My brother, Brett, was killed by a drunk driver when he was 37. Thirty-seven. Greg and I spent the day at the cemetery, cleaning his headstone and adding flowers to the arrangement. Don’t drink and drive.

A Stranger’s Request, A Personal Decision

Greg and I kept returning to the same thought: This was a human being, asking for time, for meaning, for presence. It wasn’t just about ink; it was about living by what we believe.

🌈 June is Pride Month, but support for the LGBTQ+ community should extend all year long. Whether you’re a parent, friend, educator, or ally—your love, education, and presence matter.

It’s Caturday, so meet Muffin. Yes, that is her happy face. Muffin is a cat of many moods, but mostly just one expression: gloriously unimpressed.

It's #FlowerFriday! Daylilies are hands-down my favorite flower. Of the thousands of varieties, it’s difficult to choose a favorite, but Wild Horses truly takes my breath away.

Flower photo by Oakes Daylilies

I poured my heart into raising my children, never realizing I’d quietly built a vision for their future—one that isn’t mine to shape. Letting go of our grown-up kids doesn’t happen all at once. It happens in moments, in questions, in unexpected quiet.

We let go, not because we want to, but because we believe in the beauty of their becoming.

(See Ken’s fireworks in the video)

Every July 4th, something spectacular happens in Boon, Michigan, where Ken and Kate Rogers host their Fireworks and Feast at the Rogers Family Funny Farm.

Tommy Ryman is not alone in stating, "Healthy is Gross." My childhood was filled with veggie chips, trail mix, carob, and yogurt with carrots and celery for snacks. Pop tarts and soft drinks never crossed the threshold.

My dad, Bing, wrote me a heartfelt letter just after I started college at Auburn. An Envo-Gram is an entertaining way he used to communicate because his handwriting is so hard to read.

This little girl knows what matters. At once silly and serious, Karen Beaumont's joyful text and David Catrow's vibrant illustrations encourage kids to appreciate everything about themselves, inside and out.