Pull up a chair. This week has felt a little more like real life again. Not the kind where everything is perfect or even particularly exciting, but the kind where the days start to blend into something familiar. And after the past few months, I will take familiar every single time. There has been a…
Pull Up a Chair
Pull Up a Chair: April 10, 2026
Pull up a chair. This week has felt quieter, but in a different way than last Friday. Last week carried a kind of stillness that asked us to pause. To sit with something heavy and meaningful. And then Easter came, and with it a sense of light that felt both familiar and new at the…
Pull Up a Chair: April 3, 2026
Pull up a chair. Today is quiet in a different way. Not the kind of quiet that comes from a slow morning or a peaceful afternoon, but the kind that feels intentional. Sacred. A little heavier, but not in the same way the past few months have been heavy. Today is Good Friday. It is…
Pull Up a Chair: March 27, 2026
Pull up a chair. March is almost behind us, and I have been thinking about what this month has actually meant. Not what I hoped it would be. Not what I wished it would fix. Just what it has been. It has been steadier. Not perfect. Not magical. Not a grand turning point. But steadier….
Pull Up a Chair: March 20, 2026
Pull up a chair. This week feels quieter in a different way. Not heavy like February. Not uncertain like the beginning of March. Just quieter. As if the noise in my head has lowered a few notches and I can finally hear myself think. I am still finding my footing. That has not magically changed….
Pull Up a Chair: March 13, 2026
Pull up a chair. This week feels different — not dramatically so, not in a fireworks-and-breakthrough sort of way but in the subtle way you notice when your balance shifts just slightly and you don’t have to grab the wall to steady yourself. I’m not planted firmly yet. I wouldn’t go that far. But I’m…
Pull Up a Chair: March 6, 2026
Pull up a chair. March is here, and I wish I could tell you that I woke up on the first of the month feeling refreshed, reset, and ready to conquer the world. I didn’t. What I felt instead was something quieter — a kind of cautious steadiness. Not better exactly. Not worse. Just… here….
Pull Up a Chair: February 13, 2026
Pull up a chair, because this week calls for honesty—the quiet, uncomfortable kind that doesn’t wrap itself up neatly by the end. Winter weariness has settled in here, heavier than I expected, and I want to talk about it openly. Not dramatically. Not hopelessly. Just truthfully. If you’ve noticed that posts have been erratic lately,…
Pull Up a Chair: January 9, 2026
Welcome to Pull Up a Chair 2026! If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that Fridays have always been reserved for a certain kind of post. The kind where we sit down together, talk about life, laugh a little, vent a little, and remind ourselves that none of us are doing this…
Friday Conversations: Uncle’s Inflatable Santa Saga
If you’ve been around here long enough, you know that the holiday season at Shady Pines is rarely calm, often chaotic, and always memorable. Every December brings its own brand of mischief, courtesy of Ma, Uncle R, and whatever new “project” they decide to take on in the name of Christmas cheer. This year’s adventure?…
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