I Wasn’t Expecting to Hear His Voice I laughed first. Then I teared up. I had been working through another of my dad’s old Sunday School lessons, carefully reading the pages he gave me years ago as a Christmas gift. The lesson was dated April 28, 2002, and titled “Promise of Restoration.” Its Scripture came…
Family & Legacy
Family Tomato Sauce Day, Part 1: Starting a New Family Tradition
The Sauce Day SeriesThis is Part 1 of our Sauce Day series. Ready to start gathering everything you’ll need? Continue to Part 2: Getting Ready for Sauce Day → There are a lot of tomatoes in my freezer right now. And I mean a lot. Our garden has been generous this summer, so lately I…
Grandaddy’s Fishing Pole: How Ordinary Objects Preserve Family Stories
From The Stories You Gave Me My father was not a fisherman. He made that perfectly clear to his Sunday School class one Sunday morning in August of 1999. “I am not a fisherman,” he told them, before admitting that he owned a small amount of fishing tackle that seldom got used. But that morning,…
A Lifetime at the Lake: How Family Traditions Become Lifelong Memories
Nearly four decades of sunsets, screened porches, pontoon rides, and the family memories that continue to shape our lives. There are places that quietly become part of a family’s story. Not because they’re famous. Not because they’re beautiful—although many are. But because they’re where life happens. They’re where ordinary moments quietly become family traditions. Every…
Remember When Churches Had Hymn Sings and Ice Cream Socials?
How a summer evening with my Mamaw in Shelby, North Carolina became one of the sweetest memories of my childhood. One of my favorite childhood memories is going to old-fashioned church ice cream socials with my Mamaw Hamrick in North Carolina. On warm summer evenings, we’d gather under the shade of big trees after church….
County Fair Survival Guide for Grandparents Taking the Grandkids
There’s something magical about a county fair. The smell of funnel cakes drifting through the air, the bright lights of the midway, the sounds of laughter and carnival music—it’s the perfect setting for making memories with the grandchildren. My favorite activities are always the ferris wheel and the animal barns! Oh and let’s not forget…
The Lake House Isn’t What It Used to Be — And Neither Am I
Yesterday, as we swept floors, packed coolers, and loaded the last bags into the car, I found myself fighting back tears. The lake house was exactly the same. The dock was still there. The water still sparkled in the afternoon sun. The familiar creak of the screen door still welcomed us as it has for…
Recreating the “Pontoon” Lifestyle: How to Capture That Easy Summer Feeling on Your Own Boat
There are some songs that instantly transport us to another place. You hear the first few notes and suddenly you’re no longer sitting at your desk, folding laundry, or running errands. Instead, you’re floating peacefully on a lake, soaking up sunshine, laughing with family and friends, and forgetting for a little while about the stress…
What Is Yacht Music? Why This Boomer Can’t Hear “Sailing” Without Going Back to 1982
Whenever I hear Christopher Cross singing “Sailing,” I’m instantly transported back to Virginia Beach in 1982. As someone who came of age in the early 1980s, yacht music wasn’t just a genre—it was the soundtrack of my youth. Back then, we didn’t call it yacht rock or yacht music. These songs were simply everywhere. Every…
How Do You Preserve Family Stories?
Recently, I did something that might seem a little unusual. I ordered a small brass plaque for the inside of a cabinet. Not because the cabinet is particularly valuable. Not because it belongs in a museum. I did it because I’m worried that someday no one will know what it is. The cabinet belonged to…