Delivered on August 17, 2022 to SC Senate Medical Affairs Committee Good morning! I am the Reverend Merianna Harrelson. I am the Pastor of Garden of Grace United Church of Christ on Atlas Road in Southeast Columbia. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you all this morning on this crucial issue involving my own …
In the middle of yoga yesterday morning, I experience time slowing down. It was like I was moving in slow motion even though I was moving at the same speed of the people around me. Has that ever happened to you? This isn’t the first time this has happened to me. It’s happened at other …
There’s something about summer that makes time stand still. There’s no rushing to school in the early morning. No afternoon push to get homework done. There’s time and space for lingering. Time to stop and watch the turtles as their heads pop out of the pond water. Time to hunt for toads and build toad …
As I watch the posts from parents of end of the school year awards’ days, graduations, and field days, I think about how we are moving into a new season. We are moving from the daily hustle of getting up and getting into school into the summer days filled with camps and new schedules. For …
As we sat outside in the fading sunlight, we discovered that the terrarium that our four-year-old has faithfully been watering had sprouted grass! I have to admit I was convinced with the way we had left it out in heavy rains and had twisted and turned it, there wasn’t much of a chance for anything …
Just a couple of days ago, our four-year-old announced it was time for her first haircut. It’s not as though we haven’t asked if she wanted a haircut. She was fiercely determined that she would not have her haircut until she her five-year-old birthday even as she tagged along to her brother’s routine haircuts. And …
This week the book fair is at school and I found myself transported back as I wandered the shelves. A first grader showed me a diary that came with a key and I was instantly transported back to wandering the book fair and buying my first diary with a lock. A smile crept across my …
Once or twice a day, I find myself looking into the depths of the dishwasher wondering, “Is it full enough to run?” This calculation is actually pertinent because over the years with small children who help clear their plates, we are down to a single-digit number of forks. Although I haven’t run the dishwasher just …
I got the dreaded “mailbox is full” notification yesterday morning. Between Spring Break and Holy Week, I had let some phone messages pile up and was slowly working my way through those voicemails. In an attempt to get back on track, I scrolled through. my voicemails to see if there were any I could automatically …
Yesterday, it was time. I had put it off long enough. I had to clean the four-year-old’s car seat. Cleaning car seats is probably my least favorite parenthood task and it’s because it’s not just one task. It’s a multi-layered, long series of tasks. First, you have to uninstall the car seat. Next, you have …
