Author: Kerri Tracht
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You Can’t Control The Seasons or GPS
The Appeal of Transition Seasons My favorite season is Fall. I think I enjoy the transition seasons the best, the change. This is odd, because I am not a person who welcomes change easily. Expected Change vs. Surprises That is not entirely true. I am okay with change if I know it is coming.…
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The Long Road Home: A Novel
A first-day letdown I came home from my very first day of school disappointed because I could not read. I spent the whole day there and came home and couldn’t read. That felt like a complete waste of time to my six-year-old mind. (This was before kindergarten was a big deal. We jumped right…
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Tears, Questions, and the Truth About History
A sweet exchange in a third-grade classroom I recently read about the cutest exchange between a teacher and her classroom. My young friend, Sarah, teaches third grade. They had just finished an amazing history lesson on George Washington. They had talked about his life, his home, and his presidency. She said the whole class was…
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Little Habits That Shape a Life
Is Your Bed Made? “Is your bed made?” I heard this many mornings at the breakfast table, or before I left for school. Cue the eye roll. If it wasn’t done, I had to go back and make it. My parents insisted our beds were made before the day started. My mom liked a tidy…
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Finding Grace While Staring in the Eyes of Hatred
‘Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. These words are staring at me from a poster on the wall of the guest room where I am currently staying as I search for words. Well, in searching for words, there they are right in front of me. The…
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Running on a Healed Heart
“I just want to finish.” My grandson told my daughter and son-in-law as he prepared to run his first 5K since he had his open heart surgery last November. (see November 20, 2024 post) It was a year ago, on that very course, that he was unable to complete even a mile of his…
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My Mother’s Hands
I did something yesterday I haven’t done in years. I had my nails done. It was done on a whim after getting my hair cut. A treat, I suppose. But I noticed something as the lady filed, buffed, then polished my nails. My hands looked more like my mother’s than ever. My mom had…
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Stumbling, Standing, Seeking; The Pursuit of True Wisdom
Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Nothing pains some people more than having to think.” Okay, that was not his most relevant nor most repeated piece of wisdom. But it is true. I have reached the stage of life where I am purported to have gained a certain level of wisdom. After all, I have walked…
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To Capture Memories Without A Single Picture
I forget to take pictures. And that annoys me. Not all the time, mind you. But at times that will make me look back and say to myself, “I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures!” Case in point: I just spent a couple of days with an old friend. Not that she is…
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When We Lose Our Voice in the Presence of Grief
July has been a month, y’all. We were at a very popular amusement park here in Florida for the 4th of July. It was quite extraordinary that half of the nation’s population was not. We were expecting them, frankly. So we spent the first half of the day at one of the attractions that focuses…