Listen to your mother (in-law) #LTYM

Drumroll please...I am incredibly excited to announce that I will be part of the first cast of Listen to Your Mother Evansville and I have my mother-in-law to thank for it.

Karen was the inspiration for my submission. This piece is very different from the piece I read at Listen to Your Mother Indianapolis two years ago. There will be laughs (I hope). There might be a tear or two. What there will not be is me teetering on wedge sandals that I will wear for that event only and never put on my feet again. Lesson learned.

I am excited and nervous for this show. I'm coming in as one of two outsiders -- everyone else in the cast is from the Evansville area. Other than Hilary Melchiors, one of the directors and a castmate of mine from Indianapolis, I don't know any of the other women. 

I'm excited for the energy that I know will surround this show. I'm nervous to read a piece about my mother-in-law with my father-in-law in the audience. I'm excited to "introduce" my mother-in-law to so many people who probably don't even know that she had an impact on their own lives. I'm nervous that she won't approve of something I say and will come back to haunt me from the grave.

Mostly, I hope that though this piece is about my own mother-in-law experience, people will be able to relate in some way and will leave feeling like my 4 minutes was worth their time. 

LTYM Evansville will take place on May 9 at 7pm in the AIS Diamond Auditorium. If you're within driving distance to the 'ville, get your girlfriends together and make a night of it. You can buy tickets ($15) here. 

Open for prayer

This weekend is my annual silent retreat. I'm posting from my phone in the pedicure chair right now...because everyone knows that spiritual wholeness begins with fabulous toes.

After this our crew will head toward the retreat center, making a stop for lunch at a local winery...because delicious food and good wine opens your senses to God's, grace, of course.

Once at the retreat center, I will have lots of time for prayer and reflection. I want to take your needs and desires with me. If you have a prayer request, you can leave it in the comments here or email it to 4thfrog70 (at) gmail (dot) com.

And even if you don't send me a note, I'll be praying for you anyway. I'd love it if you pray for me in return.

Peace to your day...and your weekend.

10 things it took me a long time to like

If there's one thing age has taught me, it's that just because you don't like something at first doesn't mean you won't ever like it. That thought struck me as I was sitting at Panera Bread enjoying a You-Pick-2 of black bean soup and a half a Mediterranean Vegetable sandwich (a MedVeg to us regulars).

I was sopping up the last of the soup with the final bits of the sandwich and thought to myself how it was that it took me so long to figure out that I like black bean soup. So I started thinking about things that I like now that I never used to like. You know, that whole "try, try again" thing.

1. Black bean soup
2. Tomatoes
3. Spongebob Squarepants
4. Beach destinations
5. Oatmeal
6. Beer (Ok, so I drank a lot of it in college, but I didn't really like it.)
7. Going to confession
8. Cream cheese
9. Folding laundry
10. Fruity desserts

Some things, however, never change, including my dislike of

1. Cottage cheese
2. Tomato juice
3. Watching golf on TV (Sorry NaNa)
4. Hogan's Heroes
5. Ugly animation
6. Copious amounts of bass (as in sound, not fish)
7. Loud belches
8. Coca-Cola
9. Roller coasters
10. Putting laundry away

What is on your "now I like it" list? How about your "never liked it, never will" list?