Luann Tennant Coyne

Category: Family

You Just Get Through It

Once I asked my mother what it was like to live through really hard times, like Pearl Harbor and WWII. Mom was a young woman in nursing school when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Mom told me that they gathered around, listening to radios… She said it was hard to believe it had happened, that it didn’t seem real.

Hope and a Barefoot Farm Girl

How did my mother, who grew up so poor, develop such a strong sense of her own self-worth, such a sturdy self-reliance, and such a strong hope and belief that life had wondrous experiences for her?

Waiting . . .

Waiting has its gifts. Waiting has taught me patience. Humility. Waiting has knocked the top layer off my ever-present and arrogant assumption that I know what’s best for myself and for everyone else in the world. Best of all, waiting has brought me closer to an always loving, always compassionate God.

Seeing at Christmas

This year, I pray, may I focus on the goodness and kindness I see every day in my life, no matter how small.

Grandma Time

What does it feel like to be 70? What it feels like to be 70 is to be living in a kaleidoscope, where past memories and present experiences and glimpses into the future all come at once.

Staring at the Angels

Little Lucas Alexander, born July 19th, is our latest grandchild, and our latest joy. Watching him, I see all over again how very powerless newborns are. He cannot move his arms and legs consciously. He cannot lift his head, although every day he gets a little closer to that goal. He cannot even turn over.… Continue reading Staring at the Angels

Try and try and you will get it, Grandma!

Six-year-old Hanah is back with her family now and me, I want to be more like her. I want to see the wonder in ordinary things. I want to realize how lucky I am, to have all the good things that I’ve never noticed before.

What I Love about Women and Punchbowls

What I love about women is the way we gather as a community to celebrate other women. We seem to do it almost instinctually, at every major milestone. Recently we gathered here at my home near Chicago for a baby shower for my daughter Shannon.

The Ocean Springs Mardi Gras Parade

The parade was to come right by our rented cottage, so my husband Frank and I attended… and stepped into another world. Being near the end of the parade route, we spent an hour waiting, walking up and down the street, being baptized by the last of the rain, enjoying the pre-parade festivities.  Families and… Continue reading The Ocean Springs Mardi Gras Parade

Of Wonder, and Beaches

So here Frank and I are again, in the land of white beaches, warm sunshine and blue skies. So grateful. Grateful for a safe drive down. Grateful that our loved ones and friends back home are safely through that record-shattering cold and doing well. Grateful for sunny days. Grateful that, although it is cold for… Continue reading Of Wonder, and Beaches