My mom suffered several miscarriages and one particularly sad late-term miscarriage after I was born. I remember making her a get well card at my aunt’s house. I remember talking about her boo-boo and wondering if she’d have a Snoopy Band-Aid. I remember picking her up from the hospital and taking her home. Finally, in … More MLH is 24
I began writing these columns for the Delta Democrat Times about two years ago. At the time, I was managing editor of the newspaper, the Cardinals were in the playoffs, Wesley and I had one child, and I was still deeply mourning the loss of my mom. Some things haven’t changed; my beloved Cardiac Cards … More Changes
Late August ends a maelstrom of to-dos in our house. We have successive birthdays, an anniversary and back-to-school events that keep us toeing an over-scheduled tightrope until the end of the month. As the whirlwind died down last month, my thoughts turned to fall and how it’s become my favorite time of year, mostly for … More The Here and Now
To get to my hometown, we climb up the bluff from Mississippi, skirt downtown Memphis and bounce across West Memphis’ myriad of interchanges. Finally then, the road stretches out before us, the flat horizon out every window. The concrete splits the vast Delta farmland at every turn. This is home. I used to read … More This is Home
A few weeks ago marked a year since I left my job at a daily newspaper for a new journey. After taking a few weeks off from work, I embarked on one of the most rewarding, humbling and awesome years of my life. I became a teacher. I was terrified, but I’d prayed about this … More Learning Process
I am a crier. Sad songs, great movies and really good newspaper articles get me every time.I cry at the drop of a hat. I try to pass it off on postpartum hormones or lack of sleep, but the truth is I’ve always been this way. I cry when I’m mad or sad or really … More “We were all stars.”
Sweet corn, watermelon and monkey grass I miss my mom yearround, but her memory is never closer than in the summer. She was raised in a tiny town 8 miles south of where I grew up in Sikeston, Mo. A lot of her family still live there, and her brother is the mayor there, although … More Grape Tomatoes
My dad’s mother — Mimi, we called her — was one-of-a-kind, as I suppose everyone’s grandmother is. She was a lady. She used phrases like “two shakes of a lamb’s tail,” and when anyone walked in her back door, before she saw who was there, she said, “Yoohoo.” She had a sweet, high-pitched voice, and … More Mimi and New York City
Motherhood is tough. It is wonderful and magical and the best thing ever, but it is not easy. I sometimes talk with another mom-of-two in town, and we laugh because we both feel like we slide into every appointment or meeting on two wheels with our hair on fire. It’s sometimes hard to know what … More Motherhood.
In August of this year, I will have lived in Mississippi for as long as I lived in Missouri. I left southeast Missouri in August 1996 for college at Ole Miss, and I haven’t been back except to visit on holidays, weddings and funerals. For a long time that was by choice. I was eager … More The Delta’s Most Important Asset
laura hough smith 