The 5-Minute Rule

By  Emily Parke Chase –

My husband, with a professional math journal propped on his lap, falls sound asleep in the recliner after dinner. When he awakes two hours later, I am finishing my work in the kitchen and heading to bed myself. We climb into bed and read for a few minutes before turning off the light. Read more

Sorry, Wrong Number

By Emily Parke Chase –

“Not again!”

The error message blinks on my screen like an avenging warrior.  For the third day in a row, I am unable to connect to our internet service provider. Read more

Subbing’s Not for Sissies

By Emily Parke Chase –

“Oh, why didn’t I listen to my teachers?  Why didn’t I pay attention to those who gave me instruction?” Proverbs 5:13 (NLT)
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Recline in Peace

By Emily Chase

Crack!

My husband plunks down on our recliner and breaks the mechanism.  The chair now has a severe cant to one side.  After years of warning our children not to abuse the chair, my husband has broken it himself.

“Don’t worry, Gene,” I assure him.  “The chair came with a lifetime warranty.”

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Football Highlights

By Emily Chase

Every New Year’s Day, my father and my three older brothers SuperGlued themselves to the couch in order to watch football for eight or ten hours straight.  They’d tune in to the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Gator Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, one after another all through the afternoon and into the evening with only brief time-outs to reach for the chips bowl.  I didn’t share their passion for pigskin but I could get excited about the occasional touchdown.

My mother had even less interest in football yet she always looked forward to this sports marathon.  An hour before game time, she would retrieve all the family silver and pile it at one end of the couch.  Serving dishes, flatware, vases, teapots and trays were all about to get their annual polishing.  On the coffee table in front of the couch, she’d set out the polish, a plastic basin filled with warm soapy water, and a pile of soft rags.

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