Barbara V Evers

Ever have one of those weeks? The kind that you want to toss away and pretend it never happened? I’ll spare you the details, but last week I began trying to figure out what went wrong with the math. Bad things happen in three’s. The only problem was that I was looking at multiples of threes! I’m no stranger to difficulty. Years ago, I found a Bible verse that’s carried me through much darker times, Psalm 118:24: “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Even before I learned that verse, I discovered the saying: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” Both of these resonated with me from a young age, and no matter what happens, I’ve tried to apply them to my life. By last Sunday, I had completely forgotten this outlook. Thankfully, the women of my church had a special plan in place for the Ladies’ Breakfast that morning. They gave each of us a journal… An Attitude of Gratitude Journal. Our speaker, Vonda Skelton , reminded us that no matte...

My mother celebrates her eightieth birthday this week.  As I pondered this milestone in my mother's life, I decided to write about my childhood memories of her. Shocked, I realized that specific memories escaped me.  Instead I found a general feeling of presence. And I asked myself, "Why?" The answer was obvious. Mom permeates everything about my youth.  She gave birth to me, rocked me, and sang lullabies to me, even if I was too old when I asked.  She cared for us, cooked, and cleaned.  On rainy days, she popped popcorn.  On snowy days, hot chocolate and a warm fire waited to thaw us out when we tumbled back inside.  Mom, the powerhouse that fueled every moment of her family's life, provided the threads that knitted us together.  Better than the cotton that claims to be the fabric of our lives, there is Mom. My specific memories focus on points where she stepped out of the solid background of our family and showed a different side than I wa...

I think my GPS suffered a nervous breakdown this morning.  That's the only explanation I have.  I turned it on when I got in my car and keyed in my destination address.  Once he (yes, my GPS is a he) found the satellite, he showed my car four-wheeling through fields.  He kept telling me to turn on to the road that I was already driving on!  When that didn't work, he told me to turn on a road that was two streets over.  According to him, it was three hundred yards ahead on the left. I guess the symptoms have been there.  Last January I nicknamed him Bossy Aussie for the way he kept yelling at me: "Recalculating." "In 300 yards, make a U turn." "Make a U turn NOW!" "Recalculating." Then when I passed his point of no return, he demanded: "Make a U turn Now!" "Make a U turn Right NOW!" "Don't make me come out of this box!  Make a U turn RIGHT NOW!" Ok, maybe he didn't say that last one, but he did...

Imagine spending forty-five minutes riding an old school bus to the top of a mountain in Icy Strait, Alaska only to be pushed off the mountain top and hit the bottom ninety seconds later. That’s what happened to me exactly one year ago today. Now before you start wondering who pushed me, let me clear up the confusion. I chose to do this. I even paid to do this. What’s missing? That Icy Strait hosts the ZipRider, the longest and highest zip line in North America. It’s 5330 feet long with a 1300 foot vertical drop that accelerates riders to sixty miles per hour within seconds of their release. The zip line has six lines, so six of us took the plunge at the same time. The launch structure looks like the gates used during the start of a horse race. You strap yourself in, brace your feet on the gate, and wait for the operator to release the gate and brake. For a split second, I felt a rush of fear while the operator counted off our launch, “One, two, three, go!” Except he didn’t launch...