Author Archives: Syra Ruehle

Dear Friends and Family, I wish I were writing about all the excellent trips we planned on taking before the pandemic, but that was replaced with ultimate football girls verses boys every evening that we were locked down.  Once we let the girls’ boyfriends come over, we opened our home to the world and nowContinue reading “Christmas Letter 2020”

Mom’s Birthday December 2020 A month ago, Sophia planned a trip to a tearoom in Dallas for she and I to honor Mom on her birthday.  We made reservations weeks in advance, but I didn’t give much thought to Mom being gone until the day of our excursion.  This is the second year without Mom. Continue reading “Mom’s Second Birthday in Heaven”

I was sick over Thanksgiving break.  It was as if my body knew it was a good time to rest.  In another world, a bad cold would have kept me down for a day or two and then I’d be up coughing on everyone while doing the dishes and laundry, but this is the timeContinue reading “Thanksgiving”

Thanksgiving is upon us.  I’m reminded of the Akathist of Thanksgiving attributed to a man in a prison camp who still found things to be thankful for.  There are so many good things that we can give thanks for regardless of circumstance.  Gratitude is a thing these days.  Like everyone else, I have listened toContinue reading “Small Pleasures”

It’s another glorious fall!  The trees are changing colors and the smell of dead leaves rises like incense from the parking lot.  We’ve been at parks twice this week.  The summers here in Texas are too and the winters just cold enough to be uncomfortable, but the two weeks in between are wonderful. I’m sittingContinue reading “A Happy Day in Autumn”

It’s getting close to Christmas time. Please consider buying my book on Amazon! 🙂 Here’s a link to a book trailer. Enjoy the pictures of Mom and the kids and me looking ten years younger.

I sit in the dining room.  It’s so quiet, the only sound is the ticking of the kitchen clock.  I didn’t even know it ticked.   When I came home from the accident the three little children were playing on the stairs to the third story screaming happy screams.  Now they have gone to bed andContinue reading “Car Crash”

(I don’t have cancer) (This has all the gory details of mammograms and biopsies.) Part I No one brings a friend to their mammogram.  Even if people did before, we are in a pandemic now and we aren’t allowed to bring extra people to doctor appointments.  Even when I’d bring Mom in for her yearlys,Continue reading “My First Mammogram”

September 2020 My friend Chris died today.  His estranged wife called me to tell me the news before she posted it on social media.  He called me last Saturday and sounded happy for the first time in a long time.   These past few years have hit him hard with crisis after crisis, but it feltContinue reading “Mortality”

September 2020 It’s Labor Day but I’m up at six thirty as usual.  It’s nice to be able to sit at the computer in a quiet house and write.  Sophia and Anthony are going to take Basil, Jonah, Xenia, and Justin to Hurricane Harbor, the Six Flags water park, for the day, and Mike andContinue reading “Updates”