erin ahnfeldt

Listening to Life

Summer Snowstorm

Summer Snowstorm

My friend Abbas is from Nigeria.  He’s one of those guys whose smile and laughter are infectious.  His eyes squint as he smiles, and his laughter booms in a deep belly laugh, breathing life into any group he’s with.  He was the pastor of our church when we lived in...
The Storm I Didn’t See Coming

The Storm I Didn’t See Coming

Storms, especially in Colorado, are hard to predict.  Just ask Matt, my meteorologist friend.  One moment, everything’s sunny without a cloud in sight, and suddenly there’s a rumble in the distance, clouds come in fast, and you’re caught in a downpour. And life-storms...
The Students Who Rattle Me

The Students Who Rattle Me

There are certain students at my school who make me feel uncomfortable.  It isn’t because of anything bad they’ve done.  They aren’t gang members with knives stashed in their backpacks.  And they don’t wear revealing clothes that make me feel like I can’t look at...
The Healing I Didn’t Know I Needed (Part 2)

The Healing I Didn’t Know I Needed (Part 2)

After the suicide, I couldn’t see the broken pieces in me, much less put them back together.  The fog of questions only darkened the path forward until–a month after Mason’s death–I sat on a seven-hour flight to Calgary. My family and I circled up at our...
A Candle in the Cold

A Candle in the Cold

February was cold, and not just because of the freezing temperatures.  A student at our school died last month in a car accident, so her friends never got to say goodbye.   School counselors visited classrooms to help, and there were tears, but nothing could keep the...