I’ve been an avid puzzler for most of my life. I was the one who would drag out the puzzle board made in my dad’s shop and beg and plead with others in my family to do a puzzle, even if it was a puzzle we had done time and time again. There’s something about …
Citizenship is the common thread that connects all Americans. We are a nation bound not by race or religion, but by the shared values of freedom, liberty, and equality. Because of the choices my ancestors made, I am an American citizen and as an American citizen I have certain rights: Freedom to express yourself. Freedom …
The spiritual practice of engaging in a vow of silence is a discipline that comes to us from the monastic tradition. It’s a spiritual practice that is centuries old. The idea being that that silence “is a means to access the deity, to develop self-knowledge, or to live more harmoniously.” Silent retreats have been opened to people …
When I share with people that I come from a family of six, one of the first things they ask is, “Did y’all get along?” I always answer yes and no. There were six of us, which multiplied the possibilities of people you could quarrel in what I am sure felt, to my parents, like …
Fear creeps in unwanted, unexpected choking out reason with the cyclone of what if? Fear overcomes you creating a caged animal clawing, fighting with the dire need to survive. Fear transforms us diving us over a great abyss into camps of us vs. them staring each other down. But one chorus of …
It just happened to be my turn on the hold list at the library to read Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. It just happened to be my turn to read this incredible book on the week of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday when the title of the book comes from a Martin Luther King, …
Yesterday, I was overwhelmed with the realization, “I have a baby.” I know this sounds odd, but there are points that you are so nose to the grind of what needs to be done in the daily care of a mini human that you can’t ever remember a time that you didn’t have a baby. …
“What are you doing all the way out here?” I asked her as we both shirked from the cold wind. She started to tell me and then stopped, “Hey, wait I know you. You’re the lady who gave me that bread that you dip into that juice in that tall cup.” “That’s right,” I smiled …
I was surprised to discover on Monday that Ben’s school was actually opened. For some reason, maybe because the girls were out of school and Sam had a rare day off work, I had just assumed his school would be closed as well. So, did I return him to his regular routine even as the …
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“Well, you’re becoming quite the cook,” Sam’s grandmother said to me as she opened her Christmas present of homemade pasta sauce, cowboy caviar, and pickles. “Just try it first before you say that so certainly,” I joked back. It was a surreal conversation to me because for so many years, there has been no question that …
