Sometimes I like to pretend like I’m having coffee with you. This is one of those times.

Everybody who becomes an adult has to be fourteen once, and it’s a rough time of transition for everybody involved in that year of slamming bedroom doors. It’s a year of strong emotions, and manipulating heartstrings like one learning to play a violin: screeching and awkward until it becomes classy or even tolerable. Or maybe […]

Do you want to live your life on purpose? I am honored to partner with a terrific team of authors, speakers, teachers, and podcasters for a free event next week: The Life on Purpose Summit Learn how to find your purpose and recognize your significance without adding one more commitment or service project to your agenda with […]

“Tarbled.” adjective: wind-blown; lacking precision but compensating in charm; messy but cute. ~ ~ ~ "I am a lover of messy people; a tarbled mom of two teenage boys who are likely late to school and wearing mismatched socks; I have been known to absent-mindedly doodle in the margins of overdue library books; I have […]

This Book Is For You Loving God's Words in Your Actual Life. By Tricia Lott Williford Coming Soon in 2021 NavPress As I have gingerly approached the starting line for writing this book, I have received three generous and gracious doses of recurring feedback: “Tricia, please write a book about how you fell in love […]

“Because this business of becoming conscious, of being a writer, is ultimately about asking yourself, How alive am I willing to be?” ~ Anne Lamott I wrote a piece last week that got chewed to bits on the interwebs. Chewed. To. Bits. I mean, not by everyone.  Probably not by you. But enough people pecked […]

"Mom, I asked her to be my girlfriend. But don't worry - I talked to her dad already." "You asked her dad?" Peter and I exchanged silent glances, since "asking the dad" isn't something we had coached this young man to do. There are a few gifts born from my sons watching my own love […]

I read recently about an interview with author Nora Roberts, where someone asked her how to balance writing and kids. (Anything of this specific genre grabs my attention faster than a barista calling out the cup with my name on it.) She said the key to juggling is to know that some of the balls […]

I am forty-one years old.  That happened this summer. I am solid in my emotional convictions about birthdays (love them) but also odd numbers (hate them), but forty-one seems to be here for a while longer, and we are becoming friends. Since I am the age that I am, I feel old enough to finally […]

Three things have happened, and they are sorting themselves into the same space of my mind, as if they belong there together. First, I sat outside during a summer evening rain shower.  The tasks of the day were finished, we were in the after-dinner space of each doing our own thing, and I was sitting […]

Today, I said thank you to the Starbucks barista who made my Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, even though she is complicit in my addiction.  I won't press charges as long as she keeps making that goodness that unabashedly defines autumn for my soul. Today, I said thank you to my dad, who gave me a […]

Maybe you've seen this story that's circulating on social media: "Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.  But no. Mead said that the first sign […]

When my family goes away for a bit, things fall to pieces. When we got on the cruise ship in March, it was still safe to travel.  When we got off the ship, the pandemic had hit, and we barely made it home.  Everything had changed.  Schools were closing, small businesses were sinking, and nobody […]

"So, Barbara Brown Taylor asks this question, and also Jen Hatmaker closes every podcast episode with it. Here's what I want to know: What is saving your life right now?" There's a pause while he thinks, which isn't surprising since I sprung this question on him while we are live on the air. That's how […]

This is the final week of distance learning, a household term that nobody knew three months ago. This week, we go to the school to pick up what was left behind in their lockers in the Great Middle School Rapture of March 2020. One of the parents commented on the school thread: I'm so sorry […]

Tricia: Okay. So, I want to talk about this. Right before the whole world shut down, we went on a cruise. Rob's family, my family, our parents - the whole crowd. We call ourselves the Great Eight, and we went on a cruise together. When we got on the ship it was safe to cruise, […]

Back when I was navigating the long days with little people, some researchers endeared themselves to me with a released study that indicated that stay-at-home parents have 30+ hours of leisure time each week. They implied there's no reason to complain about busyness or exhaustion, because really, most of it's leisure time. Back then, a […]

"You start this time," he said. I groaned audibly.  "OF course you would say that." "I have to confess something to you right from the top... this is the day, maybe like every day, that I think I have nothing to offer to the world.  I have nothing.  This is it." He bubbles with laughter.  […]

My brother and I have been working on a little something during quarantine, and we are excited to set this little bird free to fly today. I could tell you paragraphs about how much fun we hare having, how he makes me laugh in every single episode, how we are exploring endless topics together, things […]

"Tricia, how can I stop living in fear? I’m worried that something will happen to the person I love. How can I keep this fear from paralyzing me?”   I posted this dialogue back in October, back when we were all roaming the aisles of grocery stores, like the people next to us were safe […]