Once a month I drive fifteen miles to a church hall in a neighboring town, where kind volunteers stack the tables with boxes of jigsaw puzzles. For thirty minutes, people swap puzzles and stories. It's free and regulars know to bring a bag: we're encouraged to…
When people ask me what I do, I tell them I'm a writer. The next question is often about what I write. For many years - knee high in the thick of mothering four children - I chuckled and said, "A lot of grocery and shopping lists.…
Today's poem is for my young friend Liam. Liam is 19, in his first year of community college, a kindred spirit that I befriended at my neighborhood gym. It's not a traditional gym - it's the rec center of a private high school that…
This summer brought an unusual gift: a month long, grueling spell of vertigo, when I couldn't close my eyes or sleep because of the intensity of the dizziness, whose severity, peace and blessings be upon it, sent me to a specialist, seeking relief and understanding. A few days…
Many of you know I've had a journey through illness these past few years, since I became ill with my first round of covid in early March of 2020. Writing that brings wonder - was it really 4 1/2 years ago? There is much I can say…
I spend a lot of time at the pharmacy these days. On any given day, I take 6-7 prescriptions - white, yellow, orange, green, and pink pills that bring nourishment, relief, and support to my sweet sweet body. Another day, I will tell you love stories about the pharmacists, how…
A few years go I heard a saying from Sufi teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan that continues to teach me - “Money, what do you like most? Changing hands.” Those words came to mind as I found myself collecting the mail one evening, sifting through the envelopes. Most were from charities,…
Last week our friends came to visit as they took their son to college. The next day, in the early morning light, we sat under the back porch and watched the birds feast on my dying sunflowers. In late August my garden gasps after weeks of heat, little shade, and…