Magical Memoir Moments
When Time Shall Be No More: Kalanithi and Kairos
Thinking about time after reading When Breath Becomes Air took me back to a time in childhood when I was fascinated by a wrist watch. I discovered Kairos without knowing it.
Cars in Cuba: Why Do We Love Them so Much?
What was your first car? If you were born before 1960, or your first car was an old one, you might find one like it in Cuba today. Of all the things Cuba is famous for — Communism, cigars, music, beaches, night life — none seems to equal the emotional response that vintage cars evoke….
Gliding, Swinging, and Proposing: Love in Motion
My father proposed to my mother while they sat on a porch glider. Stuart popped the question on a double seated swing. Forty-six years later, love is motion.
BLUSH Turning Two — Means a Bargain for You
This picture was taken in 1961 when I was in seventh grade and 13 years old. Two years ago this week Herald Press chose it for the cover of my memoir. See the subtle differences? When a baby turns two, people cluck their tongues and wish the parents well. “Enjoy the Terrible Twos,” they say….
Becoming an Artist: A Lifelong Dream
An old painting, uncovered from The Box in the Basement, reminds me of my deepest desire: to become an artist who keeps learning and teaching.
Things My Father Said: A Message from the Grave
They say that eyes are the windows to the soul. My father’s eyes look different to me in the few pictures I have from his last years. The one below gave me shivers when it appeared last week on Facebook. The photo comes from the 1979 Lititz, Pennsylvania, high school yearbook, The Warrian. Daddy’s last…
Before the “White Man” — The Longhouse and Other Stories of Shelter
The Longhouse Project and a little-known, long-ago family story have inspired hope that Native-American and European-American healing may some day be possible.
Entering the Underworld: Treasure, Moth, Rust, and Corruption
Last September I responded to the question, “Does Blush have a sequel?” with this blog post, selecting “the box in the basement” as my next project. That phrase was a metaphor, of course. I planned to comb through memorabilia, waiting to hear the gentle siren of the muse. I underestimated the task. Instead of one…
Entering Lent and Leaving Social Media Behind: Welcoming a More Passive Life
What do you get when you cross Lent with Sabbath? I’m about to find out. The last four years of moving to Virginia, living in Brooklyn as a “granny nanny,” writing a book, and traveling, have been wonderful. You might call this period of time The Active Life. This style of living has been a…
Be a Namer! How Madeleine L'Engle Named My Vocation
Every writer hopes to find words that resonate in other lives. And every reader chooses favorite writers, partly based on their proven power to penetrate the veil of death through language. Madeleine L’Engle plays such a role in my life. Even though she died in 2007, she lives in my memory through her visits to…