Browsing: OurMSVoices

As a child, summers in Mississippi always included trips to some of our state parks. Those trips included hiking, swimming, boating, fishing, and lots of outdoor picnics. But my favorite memories of Mississippi state parks in the summertime involved short little getaway trips and staying in one of the park cabins with cousins and friends.

When you’re a child, you assume the world you know is the world everyone knows. Growing up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I never stopped to consider how lucky I was to have the barrier islands sitting just beyond the horizon. 

It is often said that we can learn a great deal from nature, and that is true. But sometimes, the lessons we learn surprise us more than we care to admit. 

Now, I’m not Willie Morris, and my dog is not named Skip. But this week, we had an unusual Mississippi dog story unfold on the Lucius homestead.

I come from a huge family of teachers. But I admit that I was a little shocked when our youngest son, Chris Lucius, decided to become a coach and a teacher.

There is a good chance that somewhere in Mississippi right now, a child is learning multiplication at a kitchen table while a parent reheats coffee for the third time that morning.

“But how did he know which way to go?”

I will never forget the Friday afternoon that one of my sweet elementary students raised his hand to ask this question. 

I am always eager to learn and share new insights about Mississippi, its people, its places, and especially its abundance of natural resources. That is my absolute favorite part of writing for Our Mississippi Home! 

Most folks who grew up in Mississippi visited a few creekbanks or ponds with a cane pole and a can of worms. I am no exception! Those childhood fishing days are some of the fondest memories of my life. 

Six Months in Massachusetts  I am writing this on the Orange Line heading to class. At the Downtown Crossing stop,…

I am so excited! 

We put up our hummingbird feeder this week, after we read reports of several hummingbird sightings in North Mississippi. Honestly, there are not many things on earth that are quite as amazing as a tiny hummingbird. So, I can hardly wait to see the first one that visits our new little farmhouse here in Blue Springs, Mississippi. It will be a treasured memory for my husband and me.

I was so happy, until…

A few weeks ago, I slipped on black ice and thought that was the end of my era in Boston. I sat on the top step and had a semi-midlife crisis as I reflected on the words I’d told my colleagues: “If I ever fall, I will have to go home.” I’d successfully convinced myself that I would not be able to live here if I fell. Why did I feel that way? Well, I assumed the absolute worst. Broken or fractured bones and absolute embarrassment. 

When I was working for the newspaper, I wrote a weekly story on local restaurants, and I wasn’t supposed to repeat the same restaurant twice. That’s 52 a year, which goes along with our saying that the Coast has a huge diversity of great places to eat.

There’s a moment every Mississippi spring when it happens. You open the front door just a little longer than usual.…

“Snow squall warning.” When I first saw this, I blinked twice and stretched my eyes to re-read what I saw.…

Every Christmas, I find myself thinking less about what’s under the tree and more about what surrounds it. The familiar faces, the shared stories, the traditions that don’t come from a store but from years of being passed down. As the season slows just enough for us to notice, it becomes clear that the most meaningful gifts are often the ones we didn’t realize we were being given all along.