By Nancy Patrick For some time, I have tried to write an article for Spirit of Abilene about every other week, but lately my life has demanded that I take an extended hiatus. Certainly not a vacation or time of relaxation, my husband and I have busied ourselves packing up our household and moving to a lovely home in Wesley

By Nancy Patrick We often think of lives as chapters of a book. Our parents document the early years for us in baby books and school milestone mementos. We feign embarrassment and roll our eyes at them, but our own day of reasoning arrives sooner than we expect.  Mike and I married at ages eighteen and twenty and have been

By Nancy Patrick In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Juliet asks Romeo the title question when she tries to rationalize the relationship between herself, Juliet Capulet, and her lover, Romeo Montague. As a Capulet, Juliet knows that her family and the Montague families hate each other. These young people have lived their short lives within the framework of this longstanding feud.

By Nancy Patrick With so much grief and confusion around the world (political stalemates, wars, school and other public shootings, and general violent behavior), I think of all the displaced and orphaned children and their disrupted and often shattered childhoods. Steven Hartman, CBS journalist who produces the series “On the Road,” has a poignant documentary on Netflix entitled “All the

By Nancy Patrick I live in a state of perpetual confusion these days. I used to feel pretty certain about most of the things in my life. I grew up appreciating modern medical advances and faithfully took prescribed medicines, received regular vaccinations, scheduled recommended check-ups, and pretty much accepted what doctors and other educated professionals told me. I used to

By Nancy Patrick I know this is the time of year that many people join gyms, go on diets, promise to practice quiet time in Bible study and prayer, stop drinking or smoking, quit using profanity, pledge to be better mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, daughters, or sons. I have probably made all those resolutions at one time or another (minus

Click here to read an accompanying piece by Mike Patrick about a chaplain at the Nuremberg trials. By Nancy Patrick If history had interested me more in my student days, perhaps I wouldn’t feel so deficient in understanding many of today’s global issues. Because of this lack of knowledge, I find myself researching topics that I should have known more

By Nancy Patrick Today’s young people may not know the tradition of writing love letters, but those more mature among us certainly remember the impact and importance of love letters between sweethearts. My husband and I began dating in November of 1967 during my senior year in high school and his sophomore year at Hardin-Simmons University. We met at my

By Nancy Patrick I don’t know if you face aging with the same trepidation as I do, but if you do, perhaps these thoughts will encourage you as we walk the final stretch. Though people age very differently, I attribute much of how our bodies and minds age to our genetics; however, lifestyles also contribute to the process. I have