During my son’s late baseball practice, I looked up at the lights, delighted to see bats busily hunting that night’s dinner. Bats lack the grace of birds in flight, their wings swatting at the air rather than smoothly beating in steady strokes, making their round, hairy bodies wobble. Flight for a mammal must be challenging,…
Tag: hope
Specter of a Cat
I live on land and in a house filled with ghosts and specters. I sleep in the room in which my great-grandfather drew his last breath and where his children and grandchildren stayed up to sit with his body the night before his funeral. Family legend says he had an argument with the pastor at…
Turning Toward the Sun, Firmly Rooted
A friend received more flowers and plants than she could count upon her husband’s death. Both of them have earned the love of many, and people wanted to show their respect during the week of his funeral. Roses, mums, mixed bouquets, and baskets overflowing with potted plants littered the double parlor, so much so that…
Daffodils and Invisible Growth
“Why do you love daffodils so much?” My kids and I find car rides provide the best opportunity to speak of matters both trivial and profound. My middle child comes up with great challenges like: What animal do you think I would be if I weren’t a human? What color would you be…other than purple?…
Giving Thanks for the Discomfort
I feel obliged to write something for this weekend about gratitude with yesterday being Thanksgiving and all. We’re coming off a challenging year as a family. My husband and I divorced, he moved next door, and we’re learning to co-parent while discovering how family can evolve into something different. I feel we’ve navigated this well,…
The First Year
Christian communities who follow the church calendar celebrated All Saints Sunday on November 5. On that day they remember loved ones who have died in the past year, sometimes by name during the service, and give thanks for all of the saints who have gone before us. We also step into a series of Sundays…
Listening To What Our Bodies Have to Tell Us: A Lesson From My Shoulder
I have a bad shoulder. I never broke it or injured it in any way. I don’t have a torn rotator cuff or labrum, and never had to have surgery on it. You might say, in a way that this is all a self-inflicted injury. Since my freshman year in college, my right shoulder has…
All Will Be Well…And Hell.
During the COVID quarantine, my friend and I read some of Julian of Norwich’s work. My friend had heard the saying, “All shall be well,” but was unaware of its origins. I was more than happy to introduce her to St. Julian, which felt especially fitting during lockdown. Julian of Norwich’s most often quoted text…
For Rosemary
These are the notes for the sermon I preached today at the funeral of a most beloved friend. May we all aspire to embrace a mere fraction of the gusto for living that she had…and not be afraid of making the mistakes that are absolutely inevitable. Rosemary Dodd’s favorite story to tell about our family…
I am grief.
Every week, our yoga instructor encourages us to consider choosing a focus for our practice, suggesting such things as joy and calm. This morning one word came to mind and insisted on staying: grief. It is my honor to hear people’s experiences with grief as I visit groups and organizations to talk about my book,…
Prayerful Kitchen 