Autumn had the potential to be an exciting season. My daughter started her freshman year of high school. She loved all her classes, flourished in the drama department, and was content in ways that delighted me. My son played fall football, and began his final year of middle school. Both of them were happy, settled, […]
Stronger Than We Know
by on March 11, 2018 11 Comments
My only son turned 13 last month. I cried the better part of three days. A memory from his childhood would spring up before me, and tears would pool in a sea of nostalgia. The year he was born, I was still young, more girl than woman. His older sister came only a month after trying […]
The Sacred Rhythm of Public & Private Life
by on February 11, 2018 13 Comments
I’ve been discouraged the past few weeks. Seattle has to be one of the most dreary places to live in the middle of winter. We’ve been in the thick of incessant rain, gray clouds, and short days. The weather has been frustrating, but mainly, I’ve felt discouraged about my life as a writer. I love […]
The Light of a True Friend
by on January 21, 2018 19 Comments
When John and I first started hanging out, we’d talk on the phone most evenings after I put my children to bed. After my divorce, I lived with a friend who owned a gigantic house. I turned my bedroom into a studio-type apartment—a bed, a round table for the kids to do homework, a couch, […]
In Poverty and Wealth
by on December 10, 2017 12 Comments
As a kid growing up, my family consistently lived in between the margins of financial frustration. We vacillated between not quite enough, and just enough to get by. Very rarely did we have anything that could be defined as overflow. My dad was a union carpenter who worked from dawn to dusk pounding nails in […]
