In the course of everyday family life involving school-aged children, schedule demands often dictate the shape and form of interaction. Conversation may feel less like an in-depth news interview and more like a quick declaration aimed at a passenger who has just leapt on a departing subway. The chance to say “have a seat and […]
There were many reasons, some of them deeply understood by those who honored the restrictions of the COVID era but squirmed with restless desire for change. Whatever those reasons were, the day arrived some months back when the face looking back at me in the mirror piped up and said: It’s time to move on. […]
He raised his long, gangly arms instinctively, then dropped them again, uncertain. The study in his light blue eyes was tentative, watchful, hopeful, but unsure. I looked right into them, longing to restore his comfort, trying to beam away the weight of so many months of uncertainty. Long, dry, confusing, lonely, frightening months. The last […]
When I was a child my family would travel Down to Western Kentucky where my parents were born And there’s a backwards old town that’s often remembered So many times that my memories are worn. And Daddy won’t you take me back to Muhlenberg County Down by the Green River where Paradise lay Well, I’m […]
It’s been such a long road. Right? For a year we’ve struggled to hold it together in a world we hardly recognize, some days. Then, Mother Nature cackles hysterically as she adds on her own cosmic cataclysm: The Polar Vortex. Who ever heard of such? Enough, already. If you are like me, you may think […]
If you ever feel compelled to examine your lifestyle in one rapid, unmerciful snapshot—a picture that unveils your purchasing habits, your eating patterns, your organizational skills, your housecleaning talents, your virtues or vices as a pet parent and neighbor—consider moving to a new home. By the time you get out (or should we say get […]
In a recent interview about an upcoming movie he produced, Oscar winner Denzel Washington was asked about the support he provided early in the career of the brilliant young actor Chadwick Boseman, who died earlier this year. Boseman, a central character in Washington’s upcoming film release, had openly expressed his gratitude that Washington paid his […]
A few days after United States voters elected a new president and America’s first female vice president, I sat on a stool at the counter in my daughter’s kitchen, chopping with my granddaughter. Her mother was working up a beautiful breakfast frittata, and Sis and I were helping with prep. Helping is a prioritized objective […]
I give the dog’s leash a little tug to move him along from the fragrant, faded fire hydrant he’s been examining in exhaustive detail. “C’mon, bud,” I encourage him, “let’s go see Jesus.” Hearing my words aloud, I realize that these are not routine instructions for your average weekday morning dog walk, so I reflexively […]
It was the kind of answer you pray for when you are on the verge. “Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll take care of it,” my competent daughter said in response to my panicky text. “I’ll leave in about 15 minutes and will be right over.” I couldn’t find an emoji for desperation, but no matter–she clearly […]