Gratitude Archives - Soft In Hard Places

Evanescent

LisaPullenKent — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 04:46:05 +0000

When I was growing up we moved a lot, big moves crisscrossing the country. Perpetually the new kid, I never stayed long enough to feel like I fit in. Then, I married a man whose childhood was the opposite of … Continue reading →

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Not So Long Ago and Not So Far Away

LisaPullenKent — Sun, 17 Jan 2021 00:11:08 +0000

Contemplative by nature, the isolation of this COVID year has forced constant and not always welcome introspection. Magnetically drawn to the tales of Storybooke, the fictional town inhabited by intersecting Continue reading →

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View From A Quarantine

LisaPullenKent — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 00:06:38 +0000

”Is this our new normal?” we find ourselves wondering, though we know it can't go on forever. For now, though, we have nowhere to be except right where we are and that has never happened. I recognize it for the miracle that it is. But on Day eleventy-seven of our release from the confines of routine, I'm starting to feel a little adrift. Continue reading →

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Resurgent Hope

LisaPullenKent — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 21:28:16 +0000

I read once that Canadian geese are monogamous, that most couples stay together all their lives. Considering the brutality of life in this wild world, I find that to be an inspiring example of devotion, applicable to the human condition, particularly in our postmodern reality. Continue reading →

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The Way Home

LisaPullenKent — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 04:38:53 +0000

I went to church this morning—on my couch. A dutiful daughter, I spent the first half of my life in religious prostration, and then I left. But detachment from dogma meant disconnect from community and I wandered, people-less into my … Continue reading →

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Rockin’ The Socks for World Down Syndrome Day

LisaPullenKent — Sat, 21 Mar 2020 17:00:36 +0000

This simple, profound truth alights on me continuously in her presence: "What's really important is right in front of you. Stop rushing past and see it. Stop running on adrenaline and feel it. Stop drowning it out and listen." Continue reading →

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Just Breathe

LisaPullenKent — Tue, 17 Mar 2020 19:47:33 +0000

Re-posted from March 6, 2014 “I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart.I am, I am, I am.” Sylvia Plath There’s a stillness that descends on the hospital late at night, softening the harshness … Continue reading →

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Coming Home

LisaPullenKent — Wed, 28 Mar 2018 20:29:10 +0000

The night is a pleasant 68 degrees, but heat emanates from the bright stadium lights, and I’m damp beneath my Rock Bridge High School T-shirt. My boots clink on the aluminum steps as I climb past the student section and … Continue reading →

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And So This Is Christmas … Let The Grief In

LisaPullenKent — Thu, 31 Dec 2015 00:45:18 +0000

It’s late December, only days to Christmas. The kids are out of school and it’s dark already at 4:30 pm. All the lights burn in the kitchen where my husband is busy making sugar cookies with our girls. Flour dusts … Continue reading →

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Exquisite Grief

LisaPullenKent — Wed, 16 Sep 2015 22:06:54 +0000

I knew she'd stay close, that we would feel her; I didn't know she would come to me when I was exhausted and spent, in the dream-like trance of half-sleep, and spread comfort like warmth through my chest, or when I was quiet and contemplative, in a cool breeze, gently caressing my face and answering my question, "Is that you, Mom?" Continue reading →

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