A Welcome Message

Being a pastor’s wife doesn’t mean I climb mountains more than the average person, although hiking is a favorite activity in our family.  The picture of our two sons was taken in the Colorado Rockies, where the five of us spent a memorable week in the summer after our first son graduated from high school.  Getting to a high place and enjoying a visual panorama is always a thrilling experience.  My title here, though, refers more to the kind of … Read More

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

Finding Your Own Art

One thing that I’ve learned through marriage (the list is long) is that doing/ creating/ practicing some kind of art in your own individual way helps each partner to flourish, alone and also together. Nothing Really, or Really Something Yesterday at school, by the downstairs water fountain, I had a brief conversation with an 11th grader whom I had just met when I came into her English class. I went partly to give them a brush-up on the “Xello” platform … Read More

Mid-January, and Settling Into Epiphany

Just while I’m getting a “Snow Squall Warning” on my phone — an insistent alarm even — seems like a excellent time to appreciate the often surprising revelations that this season brings. While seeing a new truth (or an old truth, newly perceived) brings a kind of light, sometimes the nature of that truth can be painful to absorb. We want to be “enlightened” in an uplifting way, but new discoveries are not always kind. Two Calendars Let’s start in … Read More

Sadness and Good Tidings, Mixed

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

Older Than My Former Student

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

Hither and Yon: Neighbors Near and Far

Just before the trick-or-treaters head out, I have a non-spooky question. How do you define what your neighborhood is, and how much does it matter? Can you draw it on a map or is it more of a concept in your mind? Getting More Colorful Close to Home, Even as October Ends I’ve been wondering about this recently, as I experience a noticeable uptick in my own appreciation of the particular area, with a radius of about a mile, where … Read More

Silence or Conversation or Sounds of Creatures,Yes. Noise, Not So Much.

Can it be that all of September has gone by, in its glory, without a new post from me? Falling down on the job here (one I assigned to myself) as fall begins, I will try to remedy the situation with something brief. Please don’t miss the last part. Perched on our porch today, I hear my dog grooming himself, plenty of late summer insects buzzing and birds twittering, along with the backdrop of human-run machines, planes in the sky, … Read More

Love for Memorial Field

Private spaces, public spaces — we need both kinds in our lives. While most of us invite people into our homes at least occasionally, we also appreciate knowing that we can take refuge there, spending time just with our family members…or maybe even completely alone. While we may refrain from putting up “No Trespassing” signs, we don’t want just anybody wandering down our driveways and coming into our kitchens. And many of us also belong to organizations or clubs or … Read More

Dog Days of Summer

Here in New England, August has served up some glorious weather. Those sweltering days in July — June was no picnic, either — needed to be endured, first. If last week and weekend were basketball, we got nothing but net: swish. Apparently the term “dog days of summer” refers specifically to the period between July 3rd and August 11th. For those of us with actual dogs, though, there’s no time limit, and no requirement on high degrees of heat, either. … Read More

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