Sylvia Schroeder

It may be that Christmases have sped up, maybe they really do come more often, or possibly it’s time warp of aging, but it is that time of the year again. I have a billion things to do, and in the vast scheme of things, most of them are insignificant. Time moves ahead regardless of […]

Once upon a time, long long ago, before people knew better than to celebrate Christmas in schools, when the principal could still haul a student to the office for a whopping, a second grade teacher formed a choir. Now this choir was made up of twenty children all under the rule of one solitary gray […]

“I’ll still be here,” he whispered as he climbed back into bed next to me. The sun still slept outside the dark window. Chill replaced the warmth of good-bye hugs, of little arms around my neck, of wet kisses on my cheek. The car door’s final bang echoed in my ears. Like hundreds of times […]

I pull a faded black suitcase, it’s wheels rumble over the sidewalk, a grey path between verdant green. The rhythm of smooth concrete broken by lines reminds me of the clickety-clack of a train moving down its tracks. “Take a right at the llama.” There they are, two hairy mowers in action, keeping the hotel’s […]

I am writing this one week before the American election. I figure I will need to read it to myself after the election. Several times. Repeat after me. And the prize goes to… Romans 13:1-2 (NASB) “…For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” I’m a citizen […]

“Thank you for the sghetti,” my daughter prayed. Her little fingers entwined into a ball were folded against the edge of the kitchen table. Her forehead puckered and her eyes squinted. Through narrow open slits she spied the set table in front of her. “Thank you for the plate.” Her cheeks twitched from the concentrated […]

“For I was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” Ps. 73:3 (NKJV). Asaph, King David’s talented musician had issues. He agonized over life’s inequality and unfairness and fell prey to a common problem. Comparison. I have measured my worth by everything from Facebook likes to cellulite. Maybe that’s why […]

Hot tiny hands warm both sides of my cheeks, smooth and just a little bit forceful. They pull my face upward from where I sit engrossed in my screen so our eyes are even. Hers, translucent blue like a sun-glinting lake, bright and sparkling, search intently. “Lift your face up and look at me,” she […]

If people would ask me how I feel about the event of my daughter’s paralyzation nine years ago, I might want to say a lot of things. One is that it makes me sad in waves of sorrow. Periods of time the waves are calm, others tempestuous. I am sorry I am sad. I feel […]