They entered from the back and walked the length of the two aisles, he with the suona (Chinese horn) and she with the gaita (Galician bagpipes). She passed closest to me, swishing in her full, gold skirt with the gaita beneath her left arm. The tassles and fringe on the instrument swung with her ... Read More about Practice, Excellence, and Wild Abandon
A Decade of Delight
My husband came in the door, and within a few minutes of catching up, I told him I was probably, almost definitely, with some degree of certainty going to quit writing. And also--if we’re talking about life changes--when I drove down the road earlier in the morning, the thought “We need to move” ... Read More about A Decade of Delight
Teach Us
"Teach us to care and not to care Teach us to sit still." ~TS Eliot I don't regularly follow the traditions of the church calendar, so Ash Wednesday snuck in on the coat tails of the flu and strep throat as they bullied their way through my little people. Housebound with kids capable of doing ... Read More about Teach Us
On skipping parties for pre-marital counseling
The show Friends premiered the year I got engaged. I slipped on a diamond ring at the end of my freshman year in college. I was still one year away from embracing my second decade--a year away from a birthday with a two in front of it. I had no business thinking about marriage at that point in my ... Read More about On skipping parties for pre-marital counseling
Burdens We’re not Called to Carry
I would love to be one of these people who hop out of bed with a bluebird on their shoulder. Instead, I get out of bed, and I feel the throbbing of teeth clenched tight throughout the night. My jaw aches every morning. I have the tell-tale signs of a woman who just might grind her teeth to little ... Read More about Burdens We’re not Called to Carry
Belonging Begins in Our Own Backyard
He sat on the kitchen counter with a bowl of ice cream and a cell phone between us. He promised it was worth my time to listen, “I’m telling you, babe, it’s exactly what you’re experiencing.” He shoved a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth, grinned, and pressed play on his phone. Malcolm Gladwell’s ... Read More about Belonging Begins in Our Own Backyard
