When my oldest trained for her life-saving course, they required her to tread water for long minutes, and when her legs wearied with the strain of her own body weight, they handed her something heavy to hold above her head and tread some more. Jim Gaffigan likens this experience to parenting multiple children. Imagine you’re drowning, he says, then someone hands…
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Pray Like the Dying
“I think that the dying pray at the last not “please,” but “thank you,” as a guest thanks his host at the door.” ~Annie Dillard I think the living should pray like this too. I want to pray “thank you” like the dying, while I’m still here to thank the good earth for opening up her treasures to me. I…
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Journeying Back in Order to Move Forward
They sat around the dinner table while I fiddled with containers of old food and dirty dishes in the kitchen. My audience, captive, just the way I like them. My oldest sat in her usual spot, only this time when I looked at her, a sixteen year old looked back at me. This is new, and yet nothing feels different….
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Let Your Life Speak
Around the time my youngest child turned two, when we lived in the thick of toddler tantrums, I began having meltdowns of my own. My daughter’s usually occurred in the toy aisle at Target, but mine were mostly behind closed doors. I could be found quietly sobbing in the bathtub or lying in bed at night, blood pulsing hard and…
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Walking One Another to Safety
The old man stood on the side of the road shaking a cane at passing cars. Cars traveled at top speed and not one of them stopped. One swerved a bit to avoid hitting the man, and as I passed on the opposite side of the road, I could see his confusion. I worked with enough dementia patients in the…
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