Author Archives: Jaclynn Loibl

From the soreness and stiffness in my thighs, hips, calves, and lower back, I know I did something that hurt so good. Running the 5k after months of healing my knee made me feel proud and ready for more. My eyelids are growing heavy, each blink getting longer, and with every close, I can feelContinue reading “A Race for a Slower Pace”

This urging is more like a pesky mosquito thought, reminding me to write in my book. Up until now, I’ve swatted it away with a flick. What’s stopping me is the feeling that I can’t do it. I tell myself it’s too complicated, like trying to untangle a knotted, knotty knot, so I don’t evenContinue reading “Starting is Winning”

Two solutions for the thumb-tip-sized acorns with needle-like points that adorn our lawn are being considered: a leaf vacuum or a long-handled circular paint roller-looking thing. Whatever I choose, my bare feet will be the judge of the device’s effectiveness. At my new favorite spot—legs outstretched on the front porch couch—I tune in to theContinue reading “Acorn Extraction”

I still can’t believe I live in Georgia. The thought hits me as the insect hum and sauna-like humidity greet me on the porch. An orangish, pumpkin moon hovers on the horizon, welcoming me to another southern evening. I’m trying out the screenless front porch tonight, lounging on the L-shaped couch that, just yesterday, satContinue reading “Designing Moonlit Moments”

In the quiet, cool air-conditioned space, I’m squirreled away at my desk in the closet, trying to write. The image of our communal patio, with its newly hung lights and the sound of family playing the board game Seven Wonders outside, tempts me. Seconds later, I give in. Now, I’m perched on the newly assembledContinue reading “The Ants Go Marching”

I filtered through the day like always, thumbing through it like it was the Yellow Pages—another symbol of how dated I sometimes feel. I don’t mind those moments of nostalgia, though, remembering the corded phone days when a boy who liked me would call, and I’d stretch the curly wire as far as it wouldContinue reading “Concrete and Comfort”

Three out of four of us started our walk at 5:30 this morning. An hour later, after a blister took one out and teaching kindergarten took the other, I slammed on my over-ear headphones, twisted my watch, and observed 2.5 miles, then vowed to double it as quickly as possible. Alone in the dawn’s darkness,Continue reading “Perspective Shape Shifting”

Seven to eight shrill cries from a red-shouldered hawk are followed by the barks of dozens of crows, landing like ornaments high atop a tree. The once-hidden hawk circles overhead, its whistle-like screams filling the air, and I find it hard to discern who’s chasing whom. I no longer need the Merlin bird song-identifying appContinue reading “Communally Living”

“Maybe, but probably not,” I responded to my walking partner, Lynn, when she invited me to her church this morning. The norm in the South is church, and the fact that I don’t do church sometimes feels like I’m one of those little black smoky guys that come out of the sewer pipes when someoneContinue reading “Gettin’ Jiggy With It”

The negative hype from women who’ve braved the boob squisher machine was all for nothing—my first-ever mammogram was quicker and almost less painful than a stop at the car wash. Thankfully, I’m not someone with fragile mammaries, nor do I flinch with modesty when the thick, cardboard-like open-front shirt exposes my breast at the startContinue reading “Thanks for the Mammaries”