In the middle of the night before Halloween my first year in high school I stood in my pajamas out in the front yard and watched our house burn all the way to the ground. A hungry spark from a wire in the attic had begun to feed its greedy…

‘I heard perms are coming back.’ The gal cutting my hair and I had been talking through the mirror at each other but I turned to face her now, ‘You have to tell me right now: is that real truth?’ She pressed her lips as if holding back her words…

Always we begin again. ~St. Benedict Call them overachievers, but most Mondays have a way of living right on up to the half-glass expectations of the usually at least once-weekly pessimistic masses. This last one had started out promising: waking up to the strong thumb of coffee pulling…

  The last day of summer had me and my short crew running for the woods. We high-tailed it to a familiar cluster of trees next to the pond that welcomed our presence often and always with open arms. From the quiet shade those tall pines offered up, a…

The longest way round is the shortest way home. ~Alexander Maclaren From the day my boy made me a promise and slipped a shiny ring on my finger, he began a life of teaching me about the important matters. He has taken seriously sharing wisdom he has collected on things…

‘Could those vines kill that tree?’ Paddling down the Buffalo River, my son and I had broken rank from Dad and the girls to explore closer to the shoreline, maybe catch a glimpse of a snake or two. We leaned our wet heads way back on our necks to take…

Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories. ~An Affair to Remember Throughout the school year, I am a high-ranking lieutenant in the army of efficiency. You can bet your firstborn on the first load of wash started before school drop off, gymnastics on Tuesday and the…

Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do. ~Brene’ Brown Rolling over in bed like a gator spinning with its prey, I couldn’t tell if I was thrashing for warm, leftover dreams or the beginning of this new day…

I had the intention of becoming a theologian…but now I see how God is, by my endeavors, also glorified in astronomy, for ‘the heavens declare the glory of God.’ ~Johannes Kepler, 1571-1630 Some days I’ll just be going about a perfectly fine day with no thoughts about…