Friday Family Writing
Then he said, “I sent a message out to the friend group that I’m inviting a new kid to eat lunch with us tomorrow. One of the friends responded, ‘Everybody be nice. Make sure he feels included. Don’t let him feel left out.’” Continue reading Invite the New Kid to Sit at Your Table
I love how much art and music envelop us at every turn, and how the boys have learned to channel their own feelings through art and music to take the edge off of some of those overpowering emotions. They know they are not alone in their highs and lows, because they listen to musicians who can speak their pains or their joys and allow their listeners to feel the connection and the parallels. Continue reading “Can Music Save Your Mortal Soul…”
The image of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, Germany (cover photo) is a place of contemplation, a place of remembrance and warning. It is close to the Brandenburg Gate in the heart of Berlin. If you understand what it represents, it can be haunting. If not, it seems almost restful. Continue reading Remembering
For most of us, there is only the unattended
Moment, the moment in and out of time,
The distraction fit, lost in a shaft of sunlight,
The wild thyme unseen, or the winter lightning
Or the waterfall, or music heard so deeply
That it is not heard at all, but you are the music
While the music lasts.
*T.S. Eliot, line from The Dry Salvages, out of Four Quartets Continue reading Music Heard so Deeply, That it is Not Heard at All
My mood is always more settled, almost nestled in and snug and happy, when I am tending to the needs of my soul. Continue reading Body in Motion
I’ll try something new and sit back and enjoy the view. Because in this case, this IS my circus, and these ARE my monkeys, and they are a rollicking good time! Continue reading Imitation and Flattery
And it dawns on me. The lesson. These things happen sometimes when something someone says intrigues me so, that I want to ponder it, mull it over, hold it in my hand and carry it like a talisman until its wisdom breaks open for me. Continue reading In the Silence
It took work on my part to shed some layers of negativity and remember my somewhat bohemian wildness and happiness, my inner childishness, to allow myself to look silly in front of my kids. Continue reading They Became My Partners in Joy
We talked about the power of nature to heal our souls, to refresh them, and cleanse them from the dust of every day life. Continue reading Nature’s Cathedral
My 13yo son asked me a question last night. He turned to me and asked, “What does it mean to be a hero? Do you have to save someone’s life to be a hero?” Continue reading What Does it Mean to be a Hero?
Do you listen intently to the words of songs your kids listen to – the stations, the kinds of music they like?
Continue reading They Don’t Want What We Want, by Asking Alexandra
Always the lists. Give me too much free time between calls at work, and a fairly slow day with no nearby neighbors to visit with, and I used pages and pages of scratch paper to make lists for the New Year. Lists about working out, and menus, and lists of chores and how to rotate them. Lists about writing and making time for the things … Continue reading Learning to Laugh
par·a·dox noun \ˈper-ə-ˌdäks, ˈpa-rə-\ : something (such as a situation) that is made up of two opposite things and that seems impossible but is actually true or possible Ben went through a Phantom of the Opera phase a while back, after reading a kid version of the story at school, and made the mask, and acted the part, until I had to rent the movie, … Continue reading Before These Moments Slip Away
I have gotten out of the habit of writing, and my world is suffering. The walls start closing in on me when my creativity is on hiatus. When I am drawn like a moth to bad news, and the marching feet of the demise of our civilization, I sit stoop-shouldered and spineless and terrified – sucked into more and more bad news and my head … Continue reading Books will Save Us
This morning, I read Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and my whole spirit calmed down. He lived and was martyred during one of the most awful periods for the church. And yet, his words are like a balm and a reminder of what community is supposed to be like for believers. I do not think we are called to be shaking our fists and screaming our frustrations. … Continue reading Today I Choose Love and Light
