Aging Archives - Soft In Hard Places

The Greatest Gift

LisaPullenKent — Thu, 28 Mar 2019 20:52:12 +0000

When I was young, I married my best friend. It’s a cliché easy to dismiss as sentimental until it happens to you. In my husband, I found my home. Now, ensconced in midlife and traversing the terrain of family life, … Continue reading →

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Love in the Stitches

LisaPullenKent — Fri, 30 Nov 2018 01:22:02 +0000

The older I get, the more I’m drawn homeward. When the weather turns cold, my craving for soup on the stove, a fire in the hearth, and time to knit begs to be slaked. Chilly temps find me cruising arts … Continue reading →

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Depth of Field

LisaPullenKent — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 00:05:09 +0000

It’s a gorgeous spring day on our 22 acres outside Fulton, a brocade of rolling green set against a periwinkle sky. It’s where I come to breathe. Today all four kids, their families, plus my dad and sister visiting from … 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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Eulogy To My Mother

LisaPullenKent — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 01:23:16 +0000

When she shall die,Take her and cut her out in little stars,And she will make the face of heaven so fineThat all the world will be in love with nightAnd pay no worship to the garish sun. William Shakespeare Patricia … Continue reading →

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In Her Image

LisaPullenKent — Sat, 01 Aug 2015 02:00:43 +0000

Sometimes I feel like a motherless childSometimes I feel like a motherless childSometimes I feel like a motherless childA long way from home African-American Spiritual I’m going to lose my mother. It’s an inevitability I never used to think about. … Continue reading →

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To Believe or Not to Believe

LisaPullenKent — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 03:26:37 +0000

“Mom, is Santa real?” My youngest shouts this over the top of Katy Perry’s “Roar” playing on the radio as I’m dodging traffic on Providence Road, trying to get to gymnastics. I shouldn’t be surprised that questions of this magnitude … Continue reading →

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And Miles To Go Before I Sleep

LisaPullenKent — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 03:40:36 +0000

It comes in five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and, finally, defeat. I mean, acceptance. The stages aren’t always in that order and some resurface frequently. Like bargaining. Especially bargaining. We all know one should never negotiate with terrorists, even if they are tiny. Continue reading →

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The Long Haul

LisaPullenKent — Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:34:18 +0000

I’m washing up in a restroom at the Oklahoma City airport and for a moment I can’t place my location: hospital? hotel? restaurant? Elegant water faucets and gleaming granite countertops add to my sense of disorientation. I don’t even recognize … Continue reading →

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Just Like That

LisaPullenKent — Sun, 05 Jan 2014 02:40:50 +0000

Aaaaaaand just like that, Christmas is over. The preparation, the anticipation, the actualization; come and gone for another year. My beautiful live tree adorned in sparkling red and gold is dead, morphed into an endearing Dr. Suess caricature; its pliant … Continue reading →

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