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It's A Due Date
Today marks the approximate due date of the pregnancy I lost back in March. I don’t think these things ought to be forgotten. I am thankful for healing, family, friends, and the upcoming holiday season. I was listening to some Christmas tunes on the radio this morning when Faith Hill’s song “A Baby Changes Everything” came on, and I was brought back to two Christmases ago when I was in my third trimester with Scooby, absolutely huge and so ready…
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The Church Doesn't Need Me Anymore
As Vintage21 Church has grown, one aspect I have struggled with is that the church no longer needs me. When there were only a hundred or so of us, we could see our handiwork in the physical space. We looked at a wall and knew that Scooby spent countless hours on the carpentry. We looked up at the massive burlap tree in the rafters and saw the scratches on our knuckles from stuffing the burlap sacks the day before. We…
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Church Cynicism
When Vintage21 opened the doors to a “what do you look for in a church?” group discussion in 2002, I was there. I moved with the church from a theater in Cary, to a school in Cary, to Harget Street, to Oberlin Street and then back to Harget Street. I’ve been with it as it grew from 40 to 1400 people and now is even larger. Early on, I viewed it as my church, the place for me to settle.…
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Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
The Handmade Market today was fun and exhausting. I was happy to have the company of Joe, Sarah, my sister-in-law, and a handful of friends that stopped by to look and chat. I didn’t sell as many pieces as I predicted, but I met a lot of people, gave away plenty business cards and took some cues as to what people want to buy and wish I offered more of. There were three types of customers that came through: the…
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The Handmade Market Makes for a Busy Week
If you don’t follow www.paigepuckettpottery.com, then you may have missed that I am selling my wares at The Handmade Market this Saturday in downtown Raleigh. Joe and I did a glaze firing this past weekend, and I am finally up to my goal of having 40-50 pieces for the show. I have no idea what to expect with respect to sales this time, but I think it will be a lot of fun to simply be in that environment and…
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In Darkness
In darkness, I am seen. The most profound moments of my life happen in bed (If I could end the sentence there, it would just be too funny) … while I can’t sleep and am left alone with my thoughts. Since high school, I have struggled with insomnia and what I believe to be depression, and night time has always served as a space for wrestling with life. There were two moments in the first year of college that I…