I remember being in the fifth grade and our teacher going around the class, asking everyone what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Each person stood up and said things like, ‘doctor’ and ‘football player’.  And each time, the teacher would say, “That’s wonderful!  Then you should go do that.”  She said the […]

I have to admit, I was taken aback by her question.  It was blunt, to the point, and it caught me off guard.  I mean, we were standing in the chip aisle at Target.  She said, “Seja, I was reading your blog and I have to ask because we’ve known each other a long time […]

I just ordered a bra. I didn’t bargain for this.  But, like everything I suppose, one event leads to another.  Our conversation might have happened anyway.  But by then, the damage may have already been done, so it was a blessing really. The blessing was this: Oh Self.  How I used to love you.  While […]

We have to have an entry foyer. This was one of my initial thoughts when thinking about the house we would build on our new land.  This is the natural thought of a person who currently lives in a house with an entry foyer that is 3 feet by 3 feet.  No where to greet […]

Our world is not a neat and tidy place. If you’ve been in my family room, you know. But outside of my little home, it isn’t neat and tidy there either.  There are not baskets and bins to separate emotions and beliefs and, most importantly, people. We all live here together, doing the best we […]

There are always going to be the naysayers. It’s difficult not to listen to them, especially when one of them is the voice in your head. What did we know about owning land?  I grew up on 10 acres, but we didn’t have any animals, other than a couple of mutts with Serbian names.  I […]

“My dad says your house is on wheels.” One of our first guests after we moved into our new home was Eva, one of Maia’s good friends.  She looked up at me with those big black eyes, and uttered those words completely straight-faced, like she was telling me two plus two equals four. “Yes, Eva,” I said with a smile […]

I thought, I can do anything for a couple of years.  In the scale of a lifetime, a couple of years is a blip, especially when you have 2 small kids.  Time seems to move so fast, so a couple of years, no problem.  I can do this.  I can live anywhere for a couple […]

I remember thinking, I’ll turn off here and drive Mt. Gilead home.  There was really no reason to do so.  I was in Brown County for work and Mt. Gilead was not on the way home. At the time, we lived in a sweet, little bi-level in a subdivision on the south side of Bloomington, Indiana. […]