Author Archives: Eliza Cramer Jaremko

“Do you have kids?” the paramedic administering my vaccine asked. “Yes. Two barrels of energy. They are 3 and 1.” “A pastor and a mom? Wow.” She said, smiling. “I want to tell you something important. You’ll be scheduling a 2nd dose on the way out, and I want you to do something for me.Continue reading “Not Throwing Away My Shot”

“Pete the Cat was walking down the street in his brand-new white shoes.” I heard my Mom’s voice from the other room as she read my son his favorite book, Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by James Dean and Eric Litwin. (If you aren’t familiar with the Pete the Cat books, youContinue reading “The Reverend Mama: I Love My New Year”

“All we wanted was a Christmas tree!” my daughter proclaimed as she gave herself a face-palm, “But noooooooooo.” She repeated the exact words and tone I had said just minutes before, but they sounded much more dramatic in her 3-year-old voice. My family was huddled in our kitchen. Our hats, coats, and mittens, soggy fromContinue reading “Lone Noel”

“So what are you planning to do for Thanksgiving?” our pediatrician asked us. “Our family has a big dinner at my Aunt and Uncle’s house with our extended family. There’s 22 of us now. We’re not really sure how we’ll make it work this year.” “Yeah … you can’t make that work this year,” heContinue reading “Home Is Where The Turkey Is”

My dearest son, Simon. Today we celebrate that you have been in our lives for 1 whole year. What a year it has been. While you were born in 2019, you have spent all but the first 6 weeks of your life in 2020. One day you may hear about the year 2020 in yourContinue reading “To Simon, On Your 1st Birthday”

There I was laying on the exam table as the urgent care physician poked and prodded my fingers, which were still squirting blood. “How in the world did this happen?” he asked. It’s the question everyone I know or meet on the street has asked. It’s the question I continue to ask myself. Still uglyContinue reading “2020 Anger Management”

“Simon’s up the stairs!” is the current war cry of our house. It first started a few weeks ago on a night when my family and I were caught in a rainstorm. The skies opened right at school pickup time. So, my husband, Kyle, and I trudged out with umbrellas to pick up Susannah (3Continue reading “2020’s Up The Stairs!”

AKA 2020 Strikes Again There I was standing on our lawn. The ten billionth day of 2020. 8:30am. Dressed in yoga pants and a t-shirt with a communion table on it that read, “Altars and Altered.” This might sound mostly normal, except for the fact that my right hand was wrapped in bloodied dish ragsContinue reading “Through the Altar-ed Glass”

One night after a particularly rough parenting day, my husband reminded me of the time before all this when this big house (church manse) we live in was very, very quiet. “Remember when you lived in this big house all by yourself,” he said, “and you’d order Mexican food on Friday nights and watch NetflixContinue reading “My 39th Trip Around the Sun”

Pandemic Preaching Whenever I walk into the sanctuary now, I greet all the people gathered there. “Hi everyone!” I say into the void, “Miss you all.” Sometimes I wave at specific people. Sometimes my gaze lingers over one or two or three faces (the folks having a particularly rough time). These people, though, never talkContinue reading “Preaching to Stick People”