Author: maryanncrum

    It’s been a little over a week since Thanksgiving, so I want to ask you a question: Have you eaten anything since then?    Really? Me, too.    But wait, didn’t many of us push back from our Thanksgiving tables saying, or at least thinking, “I never, ever, want to eat again”?    When our stomachs were stretched like overfilled… Continue reading What Are You Hungry For?

    This may sound kind of weird, but the scars on our bodies are like archaeological records of our lives. Each one tells a story.    After many surgeries and skinned-knee mishaps, my right knee is the anatomical equivalent of Egypt’s “Valley of the Kings.” Except there aren’t any fortunes to be found among these… Continue reading Content With Our Scars

     When you think of famous trios, who comes to mind? Larry, Moe and Curly? Huey, Dewey and Louie? The Three Musketeers? The Three Tenors?     Whoever popped into your head, I bet they aren’t as unique and quirky as the trio I see outside my window as I write this: Cody, Boo and… Continue reading Strange Pasture Buddies

     I am beautiful. I am stunning. I am sexy. I am glamorous. I am gorgeous.     How do I know? My blue jeans tell me so.     Oh, wait, you don’t think all these grandiose self-affirmations pop into my head when I see myself in the mirror wearing blue jeans, do you? HA! No… Continue reading God’s Words Aren’t Empty

    Had I been transported to an alternate universe? I was surrounded by people I knew, but had their brains been replaced with alien brains? Or had mine? It sure seemed like somebody’s had.    It was a few years ago and I was leading a small group of women from my church in one… Continue reading Keep it Simple

    You know that guy in a meeting who ponders every point so thoroughly that when everyone else has long since moved on to other issues, he’s still fixated on that earlier thing?    I’m going to be that guy right now because I want to revisit the Summer Olympic Games one more time. I… Continue reading Love Never Fails

   I do love the Summer Olympic Games. From synchronized diving to the hammer throw, it was fun to watch sports I normally never watch. (My husband might say there are no sports I don’t normally watch, but he would be wrong.)   The one exception might have been the heavyweight division of the women’s weightlifting… Continue reading Folks Should Wonder About Us

    “How hard can it be?” I usually ask myself when I’m thinking about stepping out into some new venture.    “Apparently a lot harder than it looks,” I too often conclude later when I’m neck-deep into the thing.    Keeping a few chickens to provide us with fresh eggs has unfortunately become one of those… Continue reading At the Crossroads

    My husband rarely suggests topics for me to write about. Mostly, he’s just relieved when I don’t write about him. He did, however, propose today’s subject, and I’m going with it.    While it’s much more fun to discuss the dysfunctions of others, today I shall aim the spotlight on my own.    One of… Continue reading My Conflicting Compulsions

    We were rolling to the gate after a long flight to San Francisco when I asked the man sitting next to me if he and his family were on vacation.    “Yeah, we are,” he answered. “My wife and I have been here before and we want the kids to see it.”    We chatted… Continue reading Here to See One Site