Author: maryanncrum

   I don’t often feel like flinging my phone into the woods behind our house, but the urge does hit me on those rare and awful occasions when I’m forced to call a toll-free “helpdesk” number.    It happened recently when my mother asked me to help her download some books for her e-reader .… Continue reading Help Desks Aren’t Always Helpful

   That’s how one TV news anchor explained the common Southern compulsion to dash to the grocery store to buy milk and bread whenever snow is forecast.    I’ve tried to figure it out because, well, trying to figure out why people do what they do seems to be a peculiar interest of mine. Some… Continue reading Why Do We Do What We Do

   Maybe I better promise again, as I have before, that I will not use this precious space to always and only talk about my grandchildren. Cross my heart. I realize I’m perilously close to becoming one of those obnoxious grandparents you cross the street (or turn the page) to avoid.    But this week, I… Continue reading Remaining Wonder-full

   Sometimes I’m happy to be wrong.    When I’ve given up on someone and later learned that he or she is living a purposeful, faithful, productive life, it’s like throwing open the windows of my heart and letting in a blast of fresh air.    I’m ashamed to admit I have sometimes wearily concluded that… Continue reading God Never Gives Up

   “I think we’re the only people left who are still eating anything with flour or sugar in it,” I said to my husband the other day.    ’Tis the season to do penance for holiday eating sins and it seems nearly everyone in my universe is on a diet.     In fact, it’s hard… Continue reading In It For the Long Haul

  By the time you read this, Christmas will have come and gone, but as I write, it’s a week before the big day and my husband appears to be experiencing some angst.    We agreed not to get each other any gifts this year and our pact seems to be making Joe nervous.    I… Continue reading Trusting God’s Heart

   When life feels overwhelming, do you ever want to take a mental vacation and go to a “happy place” for just a bit?    I do.    My dominant right arm has been in a sling following shoulder surgery, so I’m doing life as a left-handed klutz … and often not doing it very… Continue reading The Ultimate “Happy Place”

   It sure is easier to maintain a thankful heart when I keep my expectations in check.     I’d like to say I was pondering this truth as part of a deep, spiritual Thanksgiving season meditation, but I wasn’t.    I was actually thinking about college football and in particular, the completely unexpected good season… Continue reading Unexpected Blessings Are the Best

   This seemed like deadline I might miss, the column that might not get written.    I thought my tank was just too empty.    A couple of months ago, I wrote about how I felt like I was standing on the rim of a “crater,” getting ready to walk down into and across some challenging… Continue reading I’m Not There Yet

   When I notice a persistent media buzz about something or someone, I occasionally feel the need to see for myself what all the brouhaha is about. More often than not, I’m sorry I did.    Like the day I decided to watch a couple of episodes of “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.”    I’d… Continue reading Ignore the Buzz