Uncategorized

  • Last Day

    Given the choice, how would you spend the last day of your life?  On November 2nd, 2012, we were told that our Christmas-loving, enthusiastically gift-giving mother had very little time left.  Dealing with end-stage ovarian cancer, we had hoped she would make it to enjoy her favorite holiday.  She had already online-shopped for all of…

  • Boy

    I am sitting on my son’s bed, listening to him play on his keyboard with such expression, it makes me shake my head at the beauty. A lifetime of experiences has brought him to the point of playing this way. Piano lessons, yes, but also a passion for movies and their music, the drama of…

  • Slow

    Lately when I run, I go too fast, get winded, and need to stop and walk. That whole ‘race-stop-walk-race’ cycle is so frustrating, because I lose my stride, I feel like I’m failing, I see others streaming past. Lately when I parent, I race ahead in my mind to the time of college application and…

  • Gates

    A couple of days ago, I was waiting for a package to arrive at my parents’ house and my attention was drawn to this corner of their living room. Specifically, I was intrigued at the placement of two photographs of gates so near each other and something told me to tuck that away for future…

  • Pails

    We had just parked the beach buggy. My sixteen-year old son and fourteen-year old daughter went off to play catch, so I sighed my way into my new beach chair and scanned the horizon. I saw the most adorable couple of older ladies chatting, a few young families, teenage girls already baking in the sun,…

  • Hopeless Wanderer

    Do you believe in miracles? Well, I do, and I think one just happened to me. In the late Winter after my mother passed, I was struggling with missing her and with my faith. One day, I took a walk and listened to music my sister, Molly, had just introduced me to. The music of…

  • Unwavering

    I stopped in, as I sometimes do on a Wednesday, to the grotto at Stonehill to say a few prayers.  I have been so much in need of direction lately, feeling a change that is in process but which I cannot yet see.  It feels like a pulling or stretching, and it’s uncomfortable and exhausting,…

  • WReSTLe

    Write. Read. Sing. Teach. Love. Lately, I have been thinking that I am on the verge of something new. I am mindful of this hunch I have, and am open to the idea that I am being led to a new ministry, or job, or experience. If that is the case, I want to cooperate…

  • Moms

    I’ve known lots of Moms. At this moment in time, I know several mothers with sick children. These Moms are keeping things going for them and other family members, and they do it with grace and a smile. I know mothers who are sick themselves, and they are doing what it takes to heal, and…

  • Real

    There are experiences in life that you can never really prepare yourself for. When they happen, they become ‘Real’ and you find yourself touching the divine in some way…real joy or pain brings about a kind of wonder and awe that separates us from everyday life. As I get older, I find myself looking for…