*This is long-winded and girly (see title). You’ve been warned, men and short-attention-spanners.” Dear Fellow Mother-Artist, You know I’m not the best at responding quickly, and you know why. I know you know, because you have the same challenge, which is why you wrote to me. There are embers glowing inside you that won’t.go.out even [...]
We’ve been waiting so long. Maybe it’s been long enough. Maybe we ought to give up this groaning, this leaning toward a thing we have no way of proving. Maybe we’ve had it wrong… God has been quiet for a while now. ******************************************************************************************************************************************************* During the years between ages 21 and 31, I lived in a [...]
“All you need is a hill.” I don’t know why it stayed, that little phrase. It sort of haunts me. When I’m running (yep, that’s right, I run now…a little…I caved!), or when anything scary or squirmy or unpleasant comes along. It was something Kim said as she led the creative fitness retreat where [...]
The dogs determined to gain entry to the vegetable garden. Dragged out the extra roll of weed-blocker and decorated the yard in bits of black plastic. Bless them. The gentle deer we love to watch, thrilled at the wide-open invitation, feasted overnight on the mammoth leaves of prolific zucchini (the only thing I grow really [...]
I flew up to Indiana on Tuesday to be with Wilma Dean when her little brother passed away. Grandma is almost 88-years-old, and old Uncle Pete…he is still her “little brother.” Pete was the tan-skinned, puppy-eyed boy–one of Ralph & Alma’s nine kids – who grew up to be an Indiana farmer like his dad before [...]
With small pangs of heartbreak, I allowed him to turn 6-years-old. Twice that day he leaned close and whispered: I’m six. He’s trying it on. He’s turning, we’re all turning; officially exiting “Chapter of the Small Child.” (sigh) We’ve spent a lot of time here. Years ago, when I tossed my graduation cap high in [...]
Steve Jobs died. And a few days after that, I wept as I drove home from Tennessee. Because of Steve Jobs? Not exactly…but sort of. I’d just started down the long gravel drive, my parents waving in the rearview mirror, shouting their love…and suddenly all these years of being alive here together were also disappearing [...]
I heard the front door close behind him before I was even out of bed. I’d overslept. Now I’m slurping coffee and lighting candles, reading from the One Year Bible. Sizzling sausage. This is the tranquil intro. Tapping out a bass line in email responses. I can hear the rushing water of the shower upstairs [...]
