jamie y. watkins

Category: Relationships & Community

  • Tomatoes

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    jywatkins
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    When I was younger and my mom would ask me to help with dinner, one of my least favorite things to do was cut up tomatoes. Sometimes they needed to be diced for tacos, or sliced for hamburgers, or quartered for salad. But no matter what, I didn’t want to do it. Something about the…

  • Happy Birthday Mom!

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    jywatkins
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    I started to write a post about my mom for her birthday, but I didn’t really know where to begin. So this post is made up of some of my best memories or what comes to mind first when I think of my amazing mother. Happy birthday, mom! ——- Recently, my mom and my sisters…

  • The Big 5

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    jywatkins
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    My junior year of college, I studied abroad for one semester in Strasbourg, France. Studying abroad in France for five months was, for me, a big thing. I grew up in a family that didn’t really travel, didn’t fly, didn’t venture, so traveling alone for five months to a foreign country was a big step,…

  • To the Moms in My Life, From Your Friend Without Kids

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    jywatkins
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    Chad and I have been married for almost six years. Many, if not most, couples who plan to have children would have already started by now, but the truth is we love being just us. And we will probably have kids in the future, but we’re in no rush for the most part. But we…

  • Celebrating a New Baby

    Celebrating a New Baby

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    jywatkins
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    Today, I got to go to my friend Kelly’s baby shower to celebrate with her, and all her family and friends, the expected arrival of “Peanut.”  Chad and I met Kelly and her husband Frank a few years ago and we served together in our satellite church. Since then, we’ve built an even stronger friendship,…

  • 30 and Loved

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    jywatkins
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       I had a plan for this weekend. I thought, I can’t stop 30 from coming, so I might as well throw myself a party. So I was going to have my family over to our house yesterday, and then all my friends over today, but Chad had a different plan. Apparently, he’s had a…

  • It’s the Little Things

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    jywatkins
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    Chad and I attended my cousin’s wedding last weekend. It was about an hour’s drive northwest through New Jersey and across the border to Pennsylvania. From where we live, we had to drive through Sussex County, where I grew up, the prettiest part of New Jersey, if I do say so. It’s very rural, contrary…

  • Anxiety That Flies High

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    jywatkins
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    I love traveling. I mean I LOVE traveling. My family did not travel much when I was growing up. The longest distance we ever went as a family was a cross-country trip from New Jersey out West to Arizona, where my uncle lives. But I was eighteen months old, so I don’t remember a mile…

  • Hospitality and Friendship

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    jywatkins
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    Chad and I love having people over. Even in our small one bedroom apartment, we used to invite a bunch of people over for Christmas parties and barbeques and other events, cramming people in to our small space. When we bought our house, our greatest vision for it was how we would be able to…

  • Anxiety and Attitude

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    jywatkins
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    We took Olive Oil to the vet today. She just needed a check-up so we could continue her usual dose of anxiety medicine for another year. Yes, she needs anxiety medicine because things like other cats severely upset her, and our usually lovable, sweet cat becomes somewhat aggressive. Taking her to the veterinarian entails of…