Pepper and Bear Blog

A dependable pair of muckers Can an Army wife retire? Chop, chop – the steel blades slid past each other like the propellers of the Black Hawk helicopters flying past the bathroom skylights of my Northern Virginia townhouse. Chop, chop… chop, chop, the metal smashed...

Born during a “wolf winter” Snow baby: Joseph Michael For winter lovers, snow symbolizes a season of rebirth, not just death. The middle of winter is the coldest and darkest time of year in the Northern Hemisphere. Yet, for those tuned into nature, the hibernal period...

Rainbow baby Samuel Henry Rainbows symbolize hope. Hence, why rainbow babies exemplify a promise to parents grieving the loss of a prior infant or unborn child—helping overcome the heartbreak. Because “when you lose a baby, you develop a permanent psychological scar....

The dandelion A narrative about Danny The flower with scores of bright yellow pedals is a member of the daisy family. But because its seeds spread easily by way of its gray fluff—carried off on the wind or blown by some small child—the dandelion offends modern...

Valentine Excerpt from Easy Street: Based on my mother’s memoir Without averting her eyes from the tabernacle, Baba brushed the top of Diane’s head with a kiss. The beads of her rosary slid through her knotted fingers, click, click. Over and over, she murmured her...

Battle buddies A note with the 20th anniversary of 9/11 approaching and current events. As a long time Army wife, I’m not really surprised at the current chaos in the Middle East, and doubt most of those who served there or who’ve intimately supported the troops, is...

Lessons from “Mutilated crumbs and gummy worms” The continuing chronicles of an Army wife and mother “Here Lies Lizzy. She cleaned up crap well! This is the epitaph that will go on my gravestone,” I had blurted out my chosen epitaph along with a handful of expletives,...

Black Loyalist Harry Washington Survivor of slavery, war, and disease, Harry Washington spent his life fighting for the same rights his former owner, George Washington, did in the American Revolution. Born in West Africa and brought to America about 1760, Harry...

Patriot spy and enslaved African American James Lafayette Patriot spy and enslaved African American, James Lafayette, was instrumental in helping defeat the British during the American Revolution. Despite the British promising freedom to enslaved African Americans...

Monuments to our heroes Right before my 18th birthday I took my first flight from Cleveland to attend the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University in Minnesota. Upon arrival, while strolling through the freshman dorm’s foyer, I met Eric, a cadet a few years...