I wrote Whit his birthday letter (belated, I’m sorry, my dear second child!) In it, I note his generally sunny disposition, intense preference for 3D activities over 2D ones, his fascination with how things work, his continued lack of automatic belief in the word of authority, and his developing sense of humor. I read Between [...]
Lots of outside skating because the weather is cold. Lots of pink cheeks and runny noises clomping into the clubhouse on their skates in search of chocolate chip cookies. Whit is the star of the week and I am irrationally proud that I was able to download the LEGO font and use it for his [...]
Today: What advertisement made you think this year? I know it’s not new this year, but I continue to be awed and moved by Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. The top video is the one I know best, and every time I see it I find myself almost breathless with a combination of anger and [...]
I feel sad this morning, heavy, full of ambivalence and more aware than usual of the turning forward of time. We stand on the fulcrum of a new decade, and I feel both scared of the uncertainty beyond January 1 and rueful about all I did not accomplish in this last year. Today, right now, [...]
Danielle posted this gorgeous video of Sarah McLachlan singing the Prayer of Saint Francis. I watched it this morning in the darkness of my bedroom and am tremendously moved. This prayer, along with May the Road Rise to Meet You and Reinhold Neibuhr’s famous words asking God to grant me the serenity often moves through [...]
Seems a day for the words of others. Meg Casey’s thoughts on the solstice make me weep and feel a surge of wild hope at the same time. But mostly, what I crave, more than anything is to be alone. Its the solstice and I feel the yin, dark, quietness and want to stay here. [...]
I wish you quietness, and the kind of rest that has you wake up feeling calm. And warm feet and glowing embers, and shortbread cookies or latkes and rosy cheeks or whatever sustains you. And tears if you need them, wet and cleansing. These words render me mute by being all that matters. And so [...]
Toward the Solstice, 1977 The thirtieth of November. Snow is starting to fall. A peculiar silence is spreading Over the fields, the maple grove. It is the thirtieth of May, Rain pours on ancient bushes, runs Down the youngest blade of grass. I am trying to hold in one steady glance All the parts of [...]
I am reading Awaiting the Child by Isabel Anders, a beautiful meditation on waiting, light, pregnancy, darkness, and religion. Thank you, Nicki, for the recommendation! The book is written as a daily journal by a minister’s wife, experiencing Advent as she also awaits the birth of her first child. It’s a lovely and thoughtful book, [...]
