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 ...
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 he...
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!...
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....
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?"...
Do you listen intently to the words of songs your kids listen to - the stations, the kinds of music they like? ...
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...
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 o...
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 ...
Another bad thing in a world of bad things. I have not become numb, that is not what has happened. I crumble with each new attack, with each new assault – foreign or domestic. And then I disconn...
It seems I have been struggling under a delusion that if I could just get my house organized Once and For All, everything would stay put. But it is more insipid than that – there is a strand of ...
"At this point in his life, he hadn't started inhabiting his work, like he did later."...
I wish anyone had been able to explain these changes to me as a young person. I just thought I was crazy. It's all perfectly normal. It's absolutely completely normal to hit pre-puberty and feel like ...
My husband and I were solving all the problems of the world this morning over coffee, and again, the discussion of violence in our nation was at the forefront of our thoughts. We were acknowled...
It is easy for me to think I’m learning a lot by bouncing around from web article to web article. And, I actually do have pretty good taste in reading, I think. I’m reading some of ...
When Scott and I were first married, and setting up our home together, I was unpacking boxes of files to put into the office, and came across an envelope full of sentences he’d had his boys writ...
It has snowed a whole bunch in our area. (I am so cheating with this photo. It’s from a photo site and not one I took of our current storm.) Our snow is bad, but not this bad. It’s packed,...
Earlier this week, we were having a dinner table conversation led by my husband about Not Judging a Book by its Cover – not judging people – understanding that everyone has a story. We may...
Dustin Hoffman is in a video that will most likely go viral. It is about the moment he realized how many amazing women he had missed out on meeting or interacting with in his life because they didn...
“Not Cool, Robert Frost!” It has been all the rage on the internet, at Ted Talks, on the Late Night Circuit – all over the place. If you have not yet seen The Pep Talk, by Kid Presid...
It’s true, and I have no pictures to share, because it was all imaginary, to pass the time. We were there for over an hour. I purposely kept my phone in my purse. Never once pulled it out, becau...
This was the phrase floating through my head all morning as I cleaned my house. I cleaned everything. My house has not been this spotless in a long time. I cleaned with joy. I cleaned with a spring in...
This morning, we changed up the chores. We have so many more animals this year than we did last year at this time, that we spend all morning feeding, watering, milking, and cleaning up after animals, ...
This morning, in the moments before anything else happened, before anyone needed me, or the morning ritual of hugs all around began, I imagined being there yesterday, in Boston. I imagined the sounds ...
