I am from a glass-fronted bookcase full of antique red-spined Baedeker guidebooks, a black and white photograph of my mother sailing a small dinghy at the age of eight, and the smell of pipe smoke. I am from a Victorian two-family home in North Cambridge with a turret, one bathroom, a back hallway that my [...]
I read Gail Caldwell’s Let’s Take the Long Way Home yesterday in one long, breathless gulp. The book is an elegant evocation of a true friendship between women, a heartbroken eulogy, and an unflinching exploration of what life looks like on the other side of an unimaginable loss. Written in Caldwell’s absolutely glorious prose, Let’s [...]
This has been a marvelous summer in many ways. I’ve really let myself sink into life at home with Grace and Whit, and I’ve been fortunate to do some special things with them that I hope they will always remember. They have each commented to me that they like having me around more, a comment [...]
I’ve written an awful lot about Grace’s sensitivity and old-soul tendencies. This summer, however, this summer of adventures and trips and full to bursting with memories, it is Whit who is more often exhibiting a nostalgia and awareness of life’s bittersweetness. About a month ago in a conversation about dogs, the kids mentioned Parker, who [...]
I was at BlogHer this past weekend. Honestly, the weekend was kind of underwhelming, but I don’t want to go into that here. What is on my mind is the reaction that several of the people I was most excited to meet had to me. I’ve heard more than once since the weekend that people [...]
I went to my great-aunt’s memorial service yesterday. Eleanor, know as Aunt E to all of us, died in July. She was the younger sister of my grandfather, Pops (Great-Pops to my kids). I sat in a pew with my mother, my cousin (13 years younger), and behind my father, his twin, and Pops. Across [...]
(thank you, Kris, for such a lovely walk. may there be many more) Email this post
The world spins as it spins. Your life is on that same axis, half shadow, half radiance and turning, always turning. -Maya Stein There is as much radiance in my life as shadow. I know that I lean towards the shadow, for lots of reasons, but in so doing I may give the impression that [...]
I am the heart contracted by joy .. I am the one whose love overcomes you, already with you, when you think to call my name … (Jane Kenyon) Grace, Whit, I hope you will always remember this trip … The rides, the winning of Lego the enormous green bear, the fact that your first [...]
I’m thrilled to feature a post by Julie Roads of Writing Roads today. I have long admired Julie’s blog and we’ve recently corresponded, finding, to my delight, a zillion common threads in our lives and endless things to talk about. Julie is funny and straight forward, a writer and a runner, down-to-earth and tremendously warm. [...]
