Magical Memoir Moments
“Whatever Happened to That Book You Were Going to Write?”
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may recall that I wrote a prayer on February 15, 2020, asking for guidance and strength as I undertook a new book-writing project. I had no idea that a month later the whole country would be closed down due to a pandemic. Nor could I have…
Juneteenth: A Black Holiday With a Place for White People Also?
Positioned between two worlds of Harrisonburg, VA, and Lititz, PA, right now, I am sitting in Lititz, listening and watching virtual performances of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival broadcast from Harrisonburg. Under the direction of Amanda Gookin, the festival is both in-person and virtual as the nation emerges from the isolation of a pandemic. …
Was Tom Wolfe Right or Wrong: Can We Go Home Again?
“You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood … back home to places in the country, back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time—back home to the escapes of Time and Memory.” –Thomas Wolfe Thomas Wolfe…
A Very Moving Experience: Sorting, Giving, Tossing, Selling, Keeping
We are counting down the days now — seven left! One week before we drive north, our car packed with paintings and blankets. Our lives as Virginia residents behind us. Our new lives as Pennsylvania residents ahead. Fortunately, we have had three months to prepare for this transition. A journey of 225 miles begins with…
A Role Model Shows Up in the Inbox: Plus, A Book Giveaway
All my life I have looked ahead to someone older to help show me the path ahead. Role models, we sometimes call these people. I started early, looking up to my neighbor Shirley Clark. She was a member of the safety patrol. I became a member also. Last week someone who just might qualify as…
From This Valley They Say We Are Going: Another Turning Point
A few days ago I wrote about the long, cold winter our family has endured. This week new life has erupted. Daffodils are budding, and the early ones are dancing in the breeze. This beautiful passage from the second chapter of the Song of Solomon speaks for us: “Arise, my love, my fair…
The Crucible of Winter: What Has It Taught You?
“Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible.” — Katherine May I have been through a very painful winter. Have you too? Today, turning the calendar page today to March 1 felt liberating. Then a walk in balmy, windy, air, listening to birds, looking for crocuses and pansies, admiring the…
What Keeps Me Standing: The Wisdom of Black Grandmothers
In the midst of both a pandemic and an anti-racist social justice movement in our country, I find myself, as a white person, a mother, grandmother, and now a caregiver, searching for the wisdom of black grandmothers. I believe black women may be the most resilient people in the world and that their strength gives…
The Means of Saving Us: One Good, Sacred, Memory
We live in partisan times in America. Depending on where we stand politically, we see different problems, but everyone seems to agree we have problems. Serious problems. We yearn for peace. Yet peace is not possible without “liberty and justice for all.” Or, to use the framework that John Paul Lederach teaches, derived from Psalm…
In Our Dark Night: Mother Julian’s Words and a Grandson’s Drawing
It’s hard to write tonight. The news is so distressing. George Floyd’s tragic death is the tip of the spear. We should all be coming together to fight the Corona virus — and the other viruses of injustice, racism, and inequality. We need wise leaders. We need change. Will it happen? Despair comes more easily…