The fabric of my life is woven through with departures. There are big ones, whose nubs are visible on the surface of my life, and smaller ones, the thread of which just glint when you turn the fabric this way and that. Like the samskaras that Dani Shapiro so eloquently talks about in Devotion, these [...]
It is my distinct honor to be guest posting today at Karen Maezen Miller’s beautiful site, Cheerio Road. Karen’s book, Hand Wash Cold, is among those that have most moved and touched me in the last few years, and I’ve come to think of her as one of my teachers, one of my shepherds. What [...]
I’ve been riding the swells of my moods lately, dipping into sadness, rising into joy, then back again. When I looked back at what I was writing a year ago, I see I was talking about the very same theme. I wonder if this is a bad thing, this apparent wallowing in the same topics, [...]
I believe we are all full of stories. I believe we are all looking for the way home. To whatever our essential, fundamental home is, where we are truly ourselves, where we are seen and recognized and known and witnessed as such. I believe that telling our stories – to others, maybe, but most of [...]
Yesterday Grace, Whit and I went back to Storyland. Our first visit was nothing short of magical and I wanted to experience that again. I am determined to jam this summer that I’m not working full of memories for the children. I’m anxious about what reality will look like once I go back to work, [...]
The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms. – Socrates We were visiting friends at the beach this past week, and at one point I was with Grace in the ocean. Despite the heat of the day, the water was cold, and we were standing right at the edge of the waves’ breaking, tip-toeing [...]
I’ve watched this many times now. Each time I end up with tears rolling down my face. It’s worth the time to watch it. We all need someone who thinks we’re truly amazing. I know this as much as I know anything. I think, again, to Bindu’s excellent post several months ago that said clearly [...]
I am heavy and full right now, waterlogged with feeling, tired and a bit burned from exposure to the sun, both literal and figurative. The changes of the last month or two are settling in, making themselves at home, and the rhythm of this new reality (albeit an interlude for just this summer, which creates [...]
I have been thinking nonstop about Anne Lamott’s piece, about our true wealth being this moment, this hour, this day. As usual, she is basically the oracle to me, among my wisest and most impactful teachers. I agree with her initial assertion “that there is nothing you can buy, achieve, own, or rent that can [...]
What is authenticity? What is the truest expression of self? What do I really want? Who am I, at my deepest core? It’s awfully easy to lose sight of these things, at least for me, in a world where I feel the competing pressures of dozens of responsibilities and identities every single day. I’m a [...]
