Turning to Netflix, Finding Jesus

If it weren’t for his compassionate nature, it would be a tad intimidating to watch a series about the life of Jesus with my husband. There we sit next to one another — the two of us, and also the huge difference between his knowledge of the Bible and mine, almost a third individual. If the couch were a see-saw, I’d be way up there, dangling my legs, and he’d be solidly grounded — or wait, maybe the other way … Read More

Looking at Marriage Every Which Way

Anniversaries — of both happy and sad days — are worth pausing for, don’t you think? Sure, we need to keep putting one foot after another, moving forward and shaping the future rather than dwelling on the past, but a little reflection about our own personal histories helps us to integrate elements of our journeys. A Snowy Day Long Ago On this day, more than 80 years ago, my parents were married in Montreal. Canada, my mother’s country, had entered … Read More

Coronation, Church Conference, Consecration…and Career Fair?

Last time I met you here, it was “Almost Easter.” Now, grass is growing in uneven clumps on the still-soggy ground, buds are opening, birds are busy twittering and scratching around in the piles of old leaves and sticks which we’ve made, black flies and ticks are out, lacrosse balls and baseballs are flying, and what was early Spring has become mid-Spring. Soon enough…well, you know. I launched this blog, many moons ago, with a theme of “this right next … Read More

Salt Water, Fresh Water: Have It Both Ways

As if it happens every year, the season’s turning again. The whirring fans many of us had going to help us sleep at night have quieted, and we’re beginning to reach for — gasp — light jackets. We’ve had some rain, at least, and what a gift that has been. Over in the UK, too, the skies have opened up, not deterring the thousands of mourners who will brave most anything to pay tribute to their beloved Queen Elizabeth. Having … Read More

One Canterbury Tale

We’ve been back from England a week, and I still feel like one of those contraptions — a computer screen, mostly — that shows a spinning wheel and a message saying, “Still processing.” What a lot there was to take in, on many levels. And I sense there won’t be a moment anytime soon when I pronounce the operation fully complete. Trying to integrate what I experienced with what I already know about life in general and my life in … Read More

It Happens Every 10 Years, or Maybe 14

When you get an invitation of any kind, you need to decide whether to accept or to decline. Sometimes these decisions are easy — “Yipppee!” or “No way I’m going to that!” — and sometimes they’re not. Every summer stretching back maybe fifteen years, I get an envelope with the same woman’s handwriting and address in the upper left corner. She even managed to find me after our move to New Hampshire, nine years ago. Inside is a one-page invitation … Read More

Empty Nesting: A Great Time for Exploring

The Fourth of July might also be known as Independence Day, but I’d call the one we just had something closer to Togetherness Day. Awwww, this is going to be sweet and maybe even a little schmaltzy, you’re predicting. And I’m not even getting into KA-BOOM fireworks. (Although I can’t resist saying, on that topic, that we noticed an odd difference this year with our 13-year-old dog not being nearly as anxious with the noise as he has previously been. … Read More

Holy Week, and High School Too

When two people live together as spouses or partners, they converge in certain ways and at certain times. Over the past couple of years, the line on this graph — how much actual time spent in the same domicile — went way, way up. When it comes to managing their respective occupations, however, unless they happen to work together, they may often feel that they’re moving along side-by-side, but separately, like a pair of railroad tracks. Not completely like railroad … Read More

The 5 Ground-Conditions-in-Winter Languages, or The Varieties of Perilous Walking Experience

Are you reveling in your February, just tolerating it, or — no shame here — suffering through it? I’m thinking of the month, oddly enough, in two groups of five: one having to do with love, and the other, all about ways of moving across frozen terrain. You may need to try to bear with me a bit through this one, but the exercise will be so rejuvenating, like a nice spray of snow from a sweetheart, perhaps. Is it … Read More

A Wedding: Two People…and Their Entire Teams

When two people marry, they form a new union. And in so doing, they also create an far-reaching set of relationships between two families who were previously unconnected. A wedding ceremony, with that exchange of vows as the centerpiece, brings its own kind of alchemy. Cel-e-bration! We — my husband and kids — recently attended one such joyous occasion. Actually, it was an event that stretched over five fun-filled days in my hometown, along with my brothers and their families. … Read More