I’m back from a run, and just in time too. We saw little sun today, and by 4:30 darkness was already settling in. Of course, it’s that time of year when — amid all the holiday messages and decorations — we’re also conscious of longer nights, less natural light to enjoy. The top of our baby grand piano (always a lovely surface, positioned as it is right near the windows) is populated with many cards right now, and they’re an … Read More
This time, keeping to my theme of how two very different things can be adjacent to one another, often challenging us to make sense of their relationship, will be an easy task. If only I didn’t feel so walloped by recent events in my life, I’d have enough energy left over to try to capture it all. But there’s really no need for that; I’ll just let the basics speak for themselves. In the past six weeks, I’ve experienced three … Read More
“She said her son was a beautiful soul, and something good will come of this.” That’s a sentence from President Biden’s State of the Union speech, referring to what RowVaughn Wells said about the brutal death of her son, Tyre Nichols. If we can act collectively and responsibly to bring about the kind of policing reforms that will prevent this from happening again, then that will be the “something good.” For this young man’s mother, who has just begun her … Read More
Even after 30 plus years of marriage, this is the kind of exchange that still happens in our household. I ask, “Is Easter over now or does it continue in some way?” (I had a feeling, partly based on the way that Christmas also keeps going, but somehow it wasn’t firmed lodged in my mind). Rob replies, no doubt summoning his patience, “We’re still in Easter, all the way until Pentecost.” I refrain from asking exactly when Pentecost is, believing … Read More
Not to be heavy or anything, but how close do you think life and death really are? Sometimes, and especially in certain seasons, like Lent right now, the difference seems to be just a whisper. The two states of being, one actually of not being, couldn’t be more opposite. And yet, looked at in a certain light, they are also right next to one another, chock-a-block, and sometimes you might even mistake one for the other. People who are grieving … Read More
How many words do you know that have one “u” right after the other? And if you do know one, do you also know how to pronounce it? My husband, who regularly passes along interesting tidbits of knowledge to me, taught me the term “Easter Triduum” just the other day, when he was pondering the plethora of sermons he needed to present over the three days we’re in right now. Needless to say, Easter itself has come around plenty of … Read More
“We were both right!” The girl I mentor, who is now a whopping 14, said this jubilantly as she got in my car a couple of weeks ago, heading to her hip-hop dance class. I didn’t even know what she was referring to, but I loved what she said immediately. Turns out, I was right about the remaining cost of the 8th grade trip to Washington D.C. But, in a way, she was too, because a few days before … Read More
If, like mine, your heart gets pounding faster with a stark contrast, then you must have already noticed that we’re in a fire and ice time of year. First, the ice. Asserting itself in streams that persist in running, the trying-to-be-firm stuff is always valiant in seeking to overtake the water. But anyone with a dog around here already knows that the coveted (by dogs, mostly) daily walks have gotten a bit challenging in the past … Read More
Whenever I get tired of tracking my daily ups and downs, which is often, I find it refreshing to pay closer attention to the ups and downs of trees instead. Looking around outside with more vigor takes me out of my own limelight. It works well in November, or any other month for that matter. And that surprising storm we had last month sure did a number on many of our tall, usually very sturdy neighbors. It’s disconcerting when you … Read More
Amidst terrifying darkness, glimmering points of light feel like miracles. Once again we are reeling from a mass shooting; once again we search for answers; once again we keep going about our business, even as we know that many families are enduring what was, until a few days ago, unimaginable loss. News of the horrific event, and the ongoing aftermath, is full of questions that may never be answered about the mass murderer. But we have survivors’ stories and we … Read More