Recently, someone in the literary world asked me, in an email, “Got any podcasts?” Well, no, in fact I did not. If she’d asked, “Got milk?” or even, “Got blog?” I could have been all set. Taking the question as a kind of challenge, however, I set out to find one and then, a bit brazenly, to become a guest on that same podcast. Who did I think I was, anyway? Well, someone who has a book manuscript itching to … Read More
No, I haven’t become a drug user, and it’s actually not me exactly who needs the fix. Furthermore, it’s not just one but a couple of fixes that have happened in my life recently. So now you probably think that I’ve walked back (news people use that expression to describe what politicians say and then later, try to retract) the title. No– just taking a little leeway here. The whole reason of bringing up fixes in the first place, though, … Read More
I haven’t seen one of them in a while, but didn’t there used to be bumper stickers that said something like, “I found The Way?” or maybe “Jesus Is The Way”? Well, about a week ago, in the dark, I was seriously looking for The Way, but not to Jesus — to home. My husband helped me, reinforcing my appreciation of marriage as an institution. If home is sometimes described as the place “where they have to take you in” … Read More
Over the past six months of the pandemic, we’ve heard the term “Alone Together” over and over again– for good reason, too. The whole time has brought such a weird mix of elements to our lives, and we need to keep reminding ourselves that, alongside the isolation we inevitably feel when cooped up and missing people who are dear to us, we are also in a shared experience that can break down barriers and generate power, even amidst terrible loss. … Read More
I once had a college professor who, perhaps in reaction to a student who was clearly unprepared for class, leaned back in his chair and mused that he’d always yearned for the opportunity to teach a course called, “Great Books I’ve Never Read.” This is close to the way I feel about my husband’s almost-over trip to Angola. Some months ago, when this was on the horizon, we both thought it might be possible for me to accompany him on … 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
A hospital stay – OK, except for childbirth — is not anything we wish for. Anxiety can run thick and clumpy, unlike all those streamlined IVs. The food, once you can eat, carries an odd smell. (Not the orange Jell-O, which is divine.) And yet, when it comes to clarifying what is most important about life, and love, a few days in post-surgical 6-N has a sharpening effect. Before hauling you in there with me, I want to give some … Read More
Taking the time to do—to give, really — an act of kindness is a little bit like choosing the right path in the woods…and helping to light someone else’s way, too. As it happens, my husband and I are about to cross paths, domestically speaking. He’s coming to the end of a three month plus sabbatical, going back to being a bishop who is closely attuned to the well-being of clergy and churches; I’m almost done with a three month … Read More
You know how you can feel how you may be just one person, but you have a bunch of different identities? For me, these would include: In my current family, the mother who tries to stay up with current playlists In the neighborhood, the woman with that big black dog At my current school, the lady who is in the classroom the other lady used to be in In my family of origin, the little sister In my tennis group, … Read More