Author Archives: SamMooneyham

When I was completing my student teaching experience 30 years ago, I thought it was my good fortune that my sophomore English teacher, whose teaching style and personality made students feel safe and confident, had agreed to mentor me for the semester. I knew she would guide, correct, and model behavior in her classroom forContinue reading ““High School Never Ends””

If I listen to a sermon on Sunday morning and don’t, at some point, wish I’d worn some Red Wing steel-reinforced boots because my toes are getting stepped on so much, then I don’t feel like I got nearly my money’s worth from the experience. I don’t have a streak of masochism, I promise; IContinue reading “Brown-Eyed, Wet-Nosed Dogs Never Broke My Heart”

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to follow in my dad’s footsteps. While I mean this figuratively now, I vividly recollect shadowing nearly every move of his. It might have been endearing at first, but when I stayed two paces behind him as he mowed the lawn I can see now howContinue reading “A Debt We Can Never Repay”

(Language alert) When I was three or four years old, I remember the phone ringing in the kitchen and, with my mama outside hanging laundry to dry and no one else inside to answer the call, picking up. “Hello?” I asked. My aunt replied, “Is this Sam?” I answered, “No, this is Lucy.” Confused, myContinue reading “Sam, I am…Except When I’m Lucy”

For the past four years we’ve made annual trips to South Carolina during the summer. While some plan and save for vacations with exotic destinations, our batteries are recharged when we find refuge from the busyness, crowds, and big-city feel of where we currently live. I know there are many who are energized by livingContinue reading “Got Nothing Against a Big Town…”

Last week we started the 26-hour drive back to Colorado from SC where we’d spent the previous week staying with my parents, visiting kin, and looking for a home. Both David and I have strong roots in the Upstate area: vivid memories of church, school, sports, friends, and family can be found down nearly everyContinue reading “The Magic of Pound Cake and Carrying Home Wherever We Go”

This time of year, the trail that Best and I travel daily looks like a caterpillar superhighway. For reasons I’ll never understand, I have been obsessed with these fuzzy butterflies in training since I was old enough to be aware of their existence. Every spring I scan the ground, trees, and paved roads for theirContinue reading “Life Lessons from Caterpillars and Tarzan”

“Are you sure you need another cookie?” “How many slices of pizza have you eaten already?” “Have you gained/lost weight since I saw you last?” “Do you really think you should be wearing _________?” Ask anyone, but especially a female, to recall a time when their appearance or appetite was the topic of someone’s conversation,Continue reading “Corgi Legs and Country Strong”

Groucho Marx is known for having said that he didn’t care to join any club that would have people like him as members, and for years the paradox of this statement rendered it enigmatic to me; however, as with so many things in life, time has provided clarity and the old woman in me canContinue reading “Fully Seen, Fully Accepted”

There’s a saying that goes something like, “Everyone thinks their dog is the best and none of them are wrong,” and I love that it recognizes the innate perfection of dogs as well as the utter devotion their people have to them. Following that train of thought, I’d also say that every woman thinks herContinue reading “Truth Tellers and Confidence Keepers”