Posts by Jennifer Dougan
Shhh, They’re Playing Your Song!
Photo Credit: Paulo Vicente, Creative Commons, cc It’s jarring and unexpected. Beer advertisements jangle loudly across my Kenny G saxophone instrumentals every five seconds. The latest in internet viruses seems to be this one, attacking online radio stations with incessant invisible advertisements. More than just the occasional advertisement between songs, these ads soon play nearly…
Read MoreThe Love that Leaves Us Breathless
Photo: Flickr User: Daniela Silicz, Creative Commons, cc There is a woman I know. Blonde hair hangs short on her neck as she races up and down stairs a million times a day, laughing breathlessly at the pedometer she wore for a week to count the steps. Steps that swept in love through peanut butter…
Read MoreWhat God Never Assumes About You
Photo: Flickr User Tripu, Creative Common, cc Pool waters sparkle against grey stone. Always the gentleman, he stoops low to ask. “Do you want to get well?” That was the question. And in fact, it really was the issue wasn’t it? Because for as much as we gripe and complain about whatever is broken in…
Read MoreWhat Sex Unlocks in Marriage
Photo Credit: Maria Rosaria Sannino, Creative Commons, cc It’s a little bit like showing up to school with no pants on. You’ve had that dream too, I’m sure. On a rushed morning getting ready for school, you dash out the door with your backpack and bag lunch. Not until you step out past the long…
Read MoreWhat Sports Cars and Physics Can Teach Our Families
Photo credit: Maciek, Creative Commons, cc Sizzling Latino music rumbas through a sunny south-facing living room. Creamy light bounces dazzlingly off white sculpted snow drifts outside to dribble across red pillows and dented couch cushions inside. Wind-carved ledges hang off the roof, drape the deck, and swoop grandly through our yard. Swing-set chains disappear unexpectedly…
Read MoreTo the Peach Pie God
Photo credit to Curtis Palmer, Creative Commons, cc The news from the big box company who wants to move in across the road from us and the pertinent land owner strikes fear in us. We look at cold hard facts and know that we can no longer stay in this home, but the realization leaves…
Read MoreHow to Heat Up Any Frosted Marriage
Photo Credit: Sami Ben Garbia, Creative Commons cc Arctic chills coat the lower corner of the window with ice and send cold drafts into me. I shiver in my green long sleeves, wishing I had a sweater with me. Bob Marley sings through the coffee shop speakers, and a three-person business meeting continues at the…
Read MoreHe Came in from the Woods and He Said It Straight Up
He came in from the woods and he said it straight up. It was evident he knew who he was. It wasn’t his family name, or his dad’s career. It wasn’t a past accomplishment he’d been hanging onto with fingers tight. He just came in from the woods and the wild, and he said it…
Read MoreFighting Back Against Family Sick Days
Quiet rasping snores from my five year old at the table caught my attention. His yogurt sat untouched beside him, blonde tousled head resting on a green-striped right arm, while his feet curled into chair rungs below him. A moment later, his body startled awake and I carried him, protesting, to bed. For two days,…
Read MoreThe Song that Will Blow You Away & Change How You See Everything
Image Source: © Subbotina | Dreamstime.com At a table with shiny olive oil spills, amid scattered bread crumbs and wrinkled Mediterranean olives, they would have pushed back their wine cups and straightened to sing. And we’ve all had that — a moment when familiar lyrics suddenly have deeper personal meaning to us, and it leaves us…
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