I want to tell you a love story. Simple, yet multi-layered–woven of many threads over twenty-four years–and true. *** We are standing at a playground alongside the creek carrying clear snow melt through the arteries of my small town. I watch my seven-year-old grandniece, Sarah*, struggle to puzzle out what I am telling her about […]
Generational Divide
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a teaching conference during which I attended a session specifically geared toward identifying and breaking down generational barriers. Many educators in the room could share the same story – frustrated by colleagues of various other generations who had different modes of teaching and learning, who could access teaching […]
Let’s make family genius
Lately, I’ve been obsessed with the word “genius.” I’ve always thought a genius was a person who’s both extremely smart and spectacularly innovative. Pablo Picasso. Roman Polanski. Erwin Schrödinger. A genius is a person who single-handedly transforms our ideas of art, story, or science. And then I started researching creativity and that inspiring image got […]
What Strong Women Do
None of the ladies in my family shrink back. Distinctly southern, full voices fill the room when we enter. We’re known for our loud laughs and warm embraces. We aren’t afraid to speak our minds and take the lead. We see a space and fill it. We see a need and fill it. I never […]
Because of You
Because of you, I yearn to be alive.Because of you, ‘till death (you) must realize.In my heart I know there is only you.And ask my heart, you’ll know that this is true. Ang hirap at pasakit, ng pusong umiibig (Tagalog): The pain and sorrows from love arise Each time I say goodbye to my […]
Will We Weep?
One clings to a flagpole. The other wades in a cistern’s mire. She, a black activist in South Carolina. He, a Jewish prophet from Jerusalem. Bree Newsome Bass climbs thirty feet from the ground. Jeremiah wallows almost as many below it. [perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] They’re an unlikely duo: Fragmented by […]
Grief – Inseparable
She knocks on the front door, but she really didn’t have to. I saw her crouching there a few days ago. I can feel her presence before she announces herself. I didn’t invite her; she simply comes. She isn’t a respecter of persons; she visits you, too. She visits us all. Sometimes, I feel […]
I’m Sad I Can’t Watch TV
Here are my TV and movie rules, as I understand them: No lying, at least not sustained lying. It’s okay to fib occasionally, but if someone is “going undercover” or “pretending to be someone they’re not,” I’m done. No fantasy. No sci-fi. Let’s have the universe operate under the known rules, which are already unpredictable, […]
The Mathematics of Life
“I just wanted you to know I hear you. I see you.” I received this voice message from a friend in response to a long, rambling complaint I sent the day before. “In walking with people through grief and loss, I’ve recognized how powerless I am to rescue anyone, said Aubrey Sampson. “And I’ve been […]
River Untamed
Walk slowly along the path this morning. Listen to the soft collapse of dry earth and loosened rocks under the wasted rubber soles of shoes deeply imprinted by the bones of tired feet.. The pathway and the riverbed are dry today. Dry rocks, like Elijah’s dry bones, cry out for water, for life – for […]
The Good Catastrophe
And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away. And Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting […]
A Hope that’s Hidden in Grief
My father and I had stopped at his office so he could pick up a few things before his flight for his business trip. We were in no rush—his flight didn’t leave until after 1pm. We planned to get some breakfast in town before leaving for the airport. He stood looking at some papers while […]
The Tree Near the Side of the Road
I am learning about perspective in my oil painting class. Usually I rush into a painting, excited to get it started. But in this particular photograph of a tree near the side of road, my teacher encouraged me to keep proper perspective in the underpainting. To project accurate perspective, the elements must line up correctly […]
Into the Waves
As I near the end of this long stretch of glistening Southern California beach, my legs are getting heavy and tired. Plopping down on the warm sand, I dig my toes in and take in the scene before me. Between the breakers and shoreline, a group of brave, eager beginners maneuver a pod of primary-colored […]
A Beautiful Terror
Rain pounds down, relentless. I pack up my suitcase for another long weekend away, away from my current state of adjustment to a new life in a new state. Supposedly, storms bring newness, refreshment, and renewal. Everything still seems to be the same. I had thought by now I’d have more solid answers to this […]
You Don’t Have to be Well to be Worthy
In the movie fantasy The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Benjamin experiences the unusual life of someone who is born old and then as time passes, becomes young, in a sort of reverse aging. He starts off life as a baby, but as an old baby, with wrinkles and the joints and body of an […]
Troubled Waters
Have you heard the one about Sisyphus and his rock? Me either . . . “Who?” I queried my kids, as it surfaced between Minecraft lore and stupid memes. “The boulder guy,” answered one. “You didn’t learn that in school, either, mom?” followed the other, baffled by my “1900’s” deficiency. So I compensated with indulged […]
Disturb Us, O Lord
Despite the gentle sound of the waves and the cool evening breeze descending over the lake, I couldn’t help but feel disturbed. The sunset over the Sea of Galilee should have soothed my soul, but my mind wouldn’t stop turning the story over and over. I sat there on the eastern shore recalling the day […]