Magical Memoir Moments
The Celestial Openness of the Child’s Mind: Lydia’s Breakthrough, Our Goodbye
Those Romantic poets, especially Wordsworth, got it right. We do arrive on this earth trailing clouds of glory! For the last eleven months, Stuart and I have had a front-row seat as Lydia exuberantly shared with us the trailing clouds of glory she brought with her from birth. Today neuroscientists are using the term “celestial…
Three Things Every Grandparent Learns Again and Every Wise Parent Knows
Today’s post was going to be about children and memoir storytelling. I had it all set up like this: The post would be the third in a series of how my grandchildren are my spiritual teachers. The first post (2011) was about learning attention and proprioception (awareness of the body) from a baby. The second…
Playing and Working: Launching a Book while Helping to Launch Children
If what you love to do most is learn, then your work can always be play. And if the book you make is about childhood, what better way to learn and work than to play with children? That’s what Stuart and I have been doing this week. Here are our two teachers and playmates. Meet…
Holding Class Outdoors: A Springtime Mini-Memoir
People often ask me, “What do you miss most about not being a college president anymore?” My answer always is “the students.” Right now students and faculty at Goshen College are frantically preparing for the end of the semester and commencement. But I know what many of them will be doing tomorrow in 70-degree weather. …