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observations, musings and miscellany from an unapologetic sentimentalist.
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Bill Fortenberry
Dec 17, 20224 min read
Thinking About Christmas - Three Stories
Christmas isn't easy for everyone. Sometimes, it can be hard to muster joy, sing a carol or laugh at a party. There may be a temptation...
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Bill Fortenberry
Sep 14, 20223 min read
goodbye, dwarf house, we'll miss you
JUNE 2018 - My boy came home for a way-too-brief, 36-hour, post-Father's Day visit this week. He stopped in on his way to a week at the...
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Bill Fortenberry
Sep 14, 20223 min read
to, from
MAY 2018 - He inspires me. I'm sitting here at my keyboard fighting back the tears as I listen to the mellow, slightly sad, somewhat...
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Bill Fortenberry
Sep 14, 20221 min read
instagram stories: the footprints
JANUARY 2018 - Bryan and Candy Griffin gave us an old bookcase in need of repair probably 15 years ago. I cut and stained new shelves...
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Bill Fortenberry
Sep 14, 20223 min read
a stitch in time, or this is getting real, cinderella
APRIL 2017 - It’s prom season at the Kudzu house and preparations have moved into full swing. After an exhaustive(ing?) search for the...
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Bill Fortenberry
Sep 2, 20223 min read
don't worry, harry potter, it's your birthday
SEPTEMBER 2016 - On September 13, my boy moves from the teen years into his 20s. Just TYPING that sentence was painful. This boy can’t be...
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Bill Fortenberry
Sep 2, 20222 min read
date night with my baby girl
SEPTEMBER 2016 - Friday is date night! For the past six, maybe seven years, Fridays on my calendar have been booked. They are reserved...
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Bill Fortenberry
Sep 2, 20223 min read
fostering otis
SEPTEMBER 2016 - Welcome, September. I knew you were coming, but it sure took you a while. In the waiting, we moved my boy back to...
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 26, 20222 min read
last day
MAY 2016 - Friday, May 20 was the last day of school here in our little city. At our house, that means it was the last day of Autumn's...
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 26, 20223 min read
turns out he was talking all time
MAY 2016 - Turns out He was talking to us all the time. A year ago, we were praying for a God-sized miracle to get Ethan to Belmont...
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 26, 20222 min read
drunk in love with purple rain
APRIL 2016 - Wisteria. I love to say that word. In it, I hear wistful and will-o'-the-wisp and whisper. I hear hope and faith and...
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 26, 20223 min read
lessons learned: planting seeds of wisdom
APRIL 2016 - I have given my kids a lot of advice over the past, gulp, almost 20 years, but it’s only been in the past three or so that...
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 20, 20222 min read
worth more than gold
JANUARY 2016 - The thin black frame holds a place of prominence, centered on an eye-level shelf, accompanied by a tiny bronze, long-nosed...
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 20, 20223 min read
still learning, still trusting my father
JANUARY 2016 - Four months and 15 days ago we moved E into his dorm at Belmont University. It was a momentous and extraordinary day....
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 13, 20223 min read
a daniel tiger christmas
DECEMBER 2015 - My sweet cousin, already a candidate for World's Greatest Mom, posted on Facebook this picture of her family's nativity...
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 13, 20226 min read
worry not
NOVEMBER 2015 - Do not worry. I get it. It's fruitless. Faithless. But when you are in the moment, when there is legitimate cause for...
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 13, 20223 min read
autumn's wise words
AUGUST 2015 - It's been a long, teary, quiet week since we dropped our boy at college. The herd of boys, young men really, who have...
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 13, 20225 min read
move-in day: lesson in faithfulness
AUGUST 2016 - We drove the 200 or so miles and pulled in front of Belmont Mansion where a chipper young coed with copper hair took E's...
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 13, 20222 min read
the last breakfast
AUGUST 2015 - It didn't hit me until I was in the middle of my summer Saturday routine. Walking back and forth, cutting horizontal...
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Bill Fortenberry
Aug 12, 20228 min read
why i believe God will provide - he is faithful
Update, AUGUST 2022: This blog post, now seven years old, was written at a time when I wanted my words to express what I hoped for, but...
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