How do you know when you’re old? Is there a moment when you’re better off acknowledging this fact, or should you keep trotting along not paying much attention to where you are on the age spectrum? If you are at least approaching whatever “old” is, are you seeing more and more differences between yourself and the ever-increasing number of people who are, at least physically, “young”? In this lead-up to Thanksgiving, when many of us will be (with any luck) … Read More
“Making plans for after lockdown?” a friend asked recently, in an email. For a moment, I froze, in a kind of panic. That was so completely not what I was doing. Suddenly I imagined that I was woefully out of synch with everyone else. It was akin to that old feeling that occasionally swept over me (maybe you too) in high school and college: probably I was missing some kind of ultra-fun event, not in the coolest place at the … Read More
Marriages are amazing contraptions. Sometimes humming along, sometimes rattling through, occasionally soaring over; staying the same, in a way, but also ever-changing, like the clouds in an autumn sky at the end of a day. Nobody said anything about my absence last Saturday up at the annual Convention for New Hampshire Episcopalians, but still I felt some pangs about not being courtside—no, wait, I mean in the conference room—while my husband gave his address. I bet it was a really … Read More
I saw a bumper sticker the other day that went something like, “Elect a Clown, Get a Circus.” But really, this is not at all fair to anybody — a good friend of ours comes to mind — who is involved in the wonderful and aesthetically rich field of the circus arts. And besides, how about the rest of us who regularly feel that our lives consist of much juggling, a fair amount of running in circles, some leaping, an … Read More
It’s the New Year, so will it be the New You? Sounds like too tall an order, probably. A better bet will most likely be nourishing our own sense of at-home-ness within ourselves. Sure, we can and probably should do some minor repairs, address our flaws, try to meet a higher standard; but essentially, we’re stuck with our very own personhood. Can we think of new ways to flourish, sometimes depending on not another soul? It’s here that I’ll make … Read More
A whole lot has happened since Muhammad Ali left us. But since my particular mission here has always been illuminating and celebrating contrasts of all kinds — the “Look, there’s this but right next to it there’s that” moments — I’m sticking with the Greatest for a time. Soon after he died, a friend of mine, in a Facebook post, said she was surprised to learn that Ali had been such a humanitarian in addition to being a boxing champion. … Read More
Déjà vu experiences, much like birds, come in a variety of plumages. They swoop in unexpectedly, often leaving you stunned, or smiling, or maybe wondering about the trajectory of your own life. There are those magical time travel moments when— whoosh—you’re suddenly back in a previous day, and then, amazingly, even what happens after you make the connection is exactly like what it once was, down to the slightest gesture or expression, as if the same movie is playing. Your … Read More
Life can get exciting when we burst through the restrictions of our expected identities, especially if it’s in the hot pursuit of truth, justice and the general illumination of the human soul. You and I might do this kind of thing once in a while, but it’s risky. To watch heroes boldly striving in adventures that play out in a neat hour or two, we turn to the screen. And, in the most interesting of these, the heroes themselves can … Read More
Ever put yourself out there and then wish desperately that you hadn’t? I have, probably about a million times; such is the story of the life of an unrepentant extrovert. As my kids will attest, it’s not easy for me to head into a convenience store and refrain from initiating conversation with someone who happens to be there getting milk at the same time. Friendliness or just too much assertion of self? I’m never sure. During the past decade, though, … Read More
Spring began with a snowfall last night, while a single word from the season offers contrasting meanings, bringing the religious and secular worlds into collision yet again. I feel right at home. Yesterday the sky was clear blue and the air fresh and cold for Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. And so the Passion begins. In my particular life, this marks just over a quarter of a century since I’ve been fully aware—or at least as fully aware … Read More