by Ashley Larkin | Feb 10, 2017 | Faith, Five Minute Friday, Love, Mothering
Every pulse of my being desires to keep her safe. Draw her up close and not let go. Surround her with covers and the tenderness of my mama arms, stroking her tired head, rubbing her sore tummy in circles. I am still drunk on coziness, the wonder of stories read on...
by Ashley Larkin | Nov 3, 2016 | Faith, Gratitude, Hope, Love, Perspective
Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. -Mary Oliver- You might have found yourself there. On the backside of an experience that is utterly ground-shifting life change. You’ve returned home, and though part of you wants to...
by Ashley Larkin | Apr 20, 2016 | Faith, Fear, Grace, Gratitude, Love, Perspective, Redemption
I’ve recognized over the years, though I still don’t get, that some people are simply not animal people. No judgment here, friends. I just don’t understand. So for you, maybe this story is not about a dog at all, but perhaps hope and audacious prayers and receiving...
by Ashley Larkin | May 21, 2015 | Love, Marriage, Perspective, Poetry
Sea foam sizzles and waves rumble, and both call me right to the edges because I feel no choice but to see life in contrasting metaphor, how Love is thunder and a settling into sands, gentle dance of bubbles in glass Pelicans hover over waters as on our honeymoon 17...
by Ashley Larkin | Feb 13, 2015 | Five Minute Friday, Hope, Love
When you wake in the morning with first thoughts of fear for tender lives in your care, or with the day’s tasks racing past your face on a hopped-up assembly line, or with pain over that relationship or horrible misunderstanding, and all you can do is sort of...
by Ashley Larkin | Sep 25, 2014 | Childhood, Love, Mothering, One Word: Seek, Open endings
Motherhood is push-pull. Hold me tight-let me go. It is I want you — and I want nothing to do with you. It is a long journey of holding close and releasing my grip. I’m experiencing it with all three of my girls right now. It’s been going on with the...