Random Connect Points:
Reba's Stories

Like many people, I decided to do no more reading about, listening to or watching anything about the Murdaugh case once the trial ended in March 2022. I had no interest in what podcasters, movies, tv series, books, blogs or news hounds had to say once the sentencing was over. That was until I saw that Valerie Bauerlein had written a book about the trial. I’d crossed work paths with Valerie back in her early career when she worked at The State newspaper in Columbia. I continued to follow her writing through her Wall Street Journal work. I knew this book would not be the sensational, rumor-ridden, speculative narrative that so many writers, podcasters, movie producers and news people had resorted to post-trial. I wasn’t disappointed. Valerie’s direct news writing style intersecting with the narrative skill of an empathetic storyteller makes this book engaging, interesting, easy to follow, and a pleasure to read. One of my favorite sentences of the book comes on page 23 with the descr...

9.15.18 - At PetsInc Today is the first “Flossie Gotcha Day” without our girl. On September 15, 2018, I went to PetsInc as a volunteer walking dogs that had been evacuated from the coast because of Hurricane Florence. I had no plan to bring home a dog. You know what they say about plans. Here’s my post celebrating her first “Gotcha Day.” We lost our girl on March 15 this year. Here’s the tribute I wrote shortly after that. The absence of Flossie’s presence in our house is still deafening. Her bed still sits in our bedroom, and her dog bowls and leash remain on the laundry porch. I miss our nightly walks and trips to the lake. Every dog bark I hear in the neighborhood alerts me to worry if it’s her barking (we had a single annoyance complaint about her barking so I was hypervigilant about that 😊 So Happy Gotcha Day to our Flossie in heaven. I feel certain she’s found her doggie soul-mates with our beloved Dixie and Beaufort.