Summer Starts Early Around Here
You can always tell when summer is arriving in Alabama because the fireworks tents start showing up in random parking lots like invasive species. One day it’s an empty lot beside a gas station. The next day there’s a giant red, white, and blue tent...
BOOM! COVER PROFILE: Debby Thomas
For more than four decades, Debby Thomas has quietly built a life rooted in service, faith, and community across Alabama’s River Region. A nurse by profession and a servant at heart, her journey has taken her from Midwestern beginnings to a life deeply woven into...
The Graduation Circuit
There’s a certain time of year when your calendar starts filling up with events that all look the same—graduations, ceremonies, receptions, and invitations that somehow all land on the same two weekends. I call it the Graduation Circuit. You start getting the cards in the...
When Your Partner Is Struggling with Midlife
Sometimes the shift is subtle. Your partner seems quieter than usual. Maybe they’re a little more withdrawn, more irritable, or just…not quite themselves. Conversations feel different. Energy is off. The things that used to matter don’t seem to carry the same weight. And you find...
What We Pass Down
May has a way of making us think about generations. Graduation season reminds us how quickly children become young adults. Mother’s Day reminds us of the women who shaped us. And spring itself seems to whisper that life keeps moving forward, whether we’re ready or...
BOOM! COVER PROFILE: Dr. Mark Kingry
After more than three decades serving the River Region, Dr. Mark Kingry has built a career rooted in excellence, relationships, and a genuine passion for helping others. In this conversation, he reflects on the early days of launching his orthodontic practice, the evolution of technology...
Still Being Shaped
April has a way of reminding us that growth doesn’t happen all at once. It shows up in small ways. Longer days. Warmer air. A little more color coming back into the world. And if we’re paying attention, it shows up in us too —...
3 Things Frog and Toad Were Right About
I still remember sitting on the floor next to the cubbies in my classroom. It was silent reading time which was my favorite part of the day. The book (and the words) were perfectly sized for my elementary hands. Little did I know the lessons...
The Weight We Don’t Carry
I was sitting in traffic the other day—nothing major, just one of those slow crawls where nobody knows why we’re stopping, but everybody’s annoyed about it anyway. I glanced at the clock, did the mental math, and immediately decided I was now “running behind,” even...
Now Playing in April “The Tax Monster”
Tax Day is April 15, 2026 – or as I call it, Wednesday. The one date on the calendar that unites Americans more than Thanksgiving, the Super Bowl, or discovering that your favorite fast-food chain now charges extra for dipping sauce. It’s the annual reminder...