I step outside in the early morning hours, our eager dog by my side. We walk through grass glistening with dew past the barn and pasture where the horses are already grazing. There’s a bit of a chill to the air; the hay field ripples with the breeze. The sun’s first rays illuminate the mist […]
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Out of Place – Elisa’s Story The first time someone scoffed at me for wanting to live in the southeast U.S. I was in 11th grade. He said, “Oh, they don’t like us down there. They still call us Yankees.” So? I thought. It’s where I belong. From the time I was 16 years old […]
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Out of Place – Heather’s Story There was nothing atypical about that first day of physical therapy school. But the next three years would be filled with heartbreak, success, failure, and some of life’s greatest lessons. Twenty-five of us sat in a medium sized classroom; each equal parts excited and nervous at the same time. […]
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Out of Place – Joy’s Story On an Irish summer day, overcast with a gentle breeze, a fourteen-year-old girl sits alone. A stranger in this place, she has found comfort in the whispers of the ocean. Her free time finds her wandering the trails along the coast. Today, as she sits on a large rock, […]
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“Dear God, please make him sleep!” I’ve lost count of the number of times I uttered this prayer in the early years of parenting. During nap time, in the middle of the night, my voice sighing with exhaustion, cracked with desperation. Instead of a dedicated time in which to pray everyday—what I used to do […]
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Out of Place – Rachael’s Story “What would you say to the woman who feels like a misfit?” the woman interviewing me asked. As I considered the question, all the situations in which I’ve felt like an outcast or outsider flitted through my mind: as a young girl on the playground, as an awkward teen […]
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Out of Place – Katie’s Story Imposter! You don’t belong here! Do you really know what you’re doing? What makes you feel like you’re capable of taking care of this task? Believe it or not, a form of these have all been said to me. They’ve been shouted in my face, and whispered into the […]
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Waiting is a muscle that you practice using at an early age. Counting down the days till Christmas, waiting for your next birthday, waiting your turn, waiting for the weekend. It’s excruciating—feeling that eager anticipation of a reality not yet realized and having no power to speed up the process! Childhood is just the training […]
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Here’s something I’ve been learning lately: Rest is not a finish line. If you’re anything like me, you probably have a lot on your plate, and it all feels urgent and it all feels important. And especially with young children in the house, it’s difficult to balance the tension between needing to get things done, […]
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Out of Place – Bethany’s Story My family and I were in a serious car accident when I was in the second grade. There were no fatalities, thankfully, but I sustained an injury to the base of my spine. Once I healed, it became obvious that something wasn’t right. Life after that was spent going […]
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