Linda Bittle - West Plains, Missouri 65775

This is Not Where I Thought I Was Going

I’m Back! It’s Been a While.

It’s been a while. Life takes a lot of turns that we don’t expect, and my blog got pushed to the side. I’m back now, and I’ll be redesigning the blog to reflect where I am now. And let me…
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#15-Driving (Reluctantly), Part II

It’s embarrassing to admit to being afraid of something that most adults do every day – like driving a car – without even considering all the ways that things can go horribly wrong. Even though I was scared to death…
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#12-Driving (Reluctantly), Part I

Did you know that there’s a word for the fear of driving? It’s called vehophobia. Turns out that it’s not a particularly rare fear. In an earlier post, I wrote that my paramedic friend helped me plot a route to…
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#8-Elephant Ride

In Civil War times, I’ve read, men would speak of “going to see the elephant”. They were going to experience battle for themselves. Some things are so large that they can’t be explained. They can only be understood through living…
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#6-Saved By a Book Club

After my husband left I felt adrift and knew I had to find something to tether me to the world or I might just float away. A book club was the first thing that saved me.  But then, books always…
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#5-Defy Expectations

My friend Sally likes to say that I saved myself. I don’t think that’s entirely true. Instead, I see how God used a bunch of unusual experiences to get me ready to defy the expectations that are put on a…
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#4-Perspective is Key

The perspective comes here. By leaving, he freed me from the life I thought I’d have.

#2-Endings, or How the Damage Occurs

I’m not great at endings. Even the ones that I choose are difficult. The ones that have been forced upon me have been especially challenging. I don’t know how to mourn when things end abruptly. I was in 3rd grade…
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#1-Wildfire, or Welcome to My Blog

How does a Missouri farm girl wind up in Idaho watching the smoke from a wildfire that threatens to consumer her adopted town, anyway? That’s a complicated question. The simplest answer is that my husband made plans that did not…
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