On Wednesday, May 16, the garbage truck driver ran over my dog, Jack. He didn't even slow down. Thankfully, I didn't see it happen because I wasn't home, but the men who work in the cemetery witnessed it and buried him for me. You see, they loved Jack, too. He managed to show up in the cemetery everyday when they were having lunch. You can guess the rest!



Jack never turned down a scrap of food, a fact I attributed to him being a rescue dog who was underfed when he came to live…

My mother and I spent yesterday afternoon tending the graves of my father and sister. Decorating family graves is as much an Appalachian tradition as eating soup beans with cornbread. Grave tending is a seasonal activity and it is especially important in the spring. When the winter…

I will remember February 2012 as the month I lost two people who were precious to me. My Aunt Hettie, ninety-one, slipped away, and two days later, Mike Mullins, only sixty-three, died of a heart attack. One death was expected; one was a kick in the teeth.

Aunt Hettie was the oldest of fourteen children and a sister of my eighty-eight-year-old mother. If you lined the siblings up by age, my mother is number three and the last one living of the first six, a…

Okay, ladies. It's time to fess up. Do you love shoes? Really love shoes? Or are you more of a purse person? Recently, I saw a woman holding six shoe boxes standing in line at an upscale department store. Her companion had three purses. Both ladies were thrilled with their finds. I admit that I too had perused the shoes!



How many pairs of shoes do you have? Do you keep them in the boxes? Do you still have the shoes you wore with your wedding dress or wore for a special…