Posts on Mothers & Daughters:
Treasuring All that is Precious
As I write this (early January, 2023), I am in Toronto at the home of my dear friend, Tanya Geisler. I was...
Happy 26th Birthday, Emma Joy!
How is it possible that you are 26 today? (The question I'm really asking is how it is possible that I have...
Happy 24th Birthday, Abby!
Happy Birthday, sweet girl. Every year I wonder how it is possible that twelve months / fifty two weeks /...
Why I’ve Given Up on Prayer
I grew up in a very strong faith tradition, so have always had a clear understanding of prayer: its purpose,...
Happy 25th Birthday, Emma Joy!
How is it possible that you are 25? How is it possible that my memories-like-they-were-yesterday of your...
About Courage & American Ninja Warrior
I do not know how to explain why I love American Ninja Warrior. My youngest daughter and I started watching...
Acknowledging the Choices that are Ours
I received a frantic call from one of my daughters a month or so ago. She was in a desperate state, I was...
Happy 23rd Birthday, Abby!
I’m sure I say something similar every year, but how is it possible that you are 23 today? How is it...
Happy 24th Birthday, Emma Joy!
Happy 24th Birthday, Emma Joy.Though I’ve written these missives every year for a very long time, this one...
Happy 22nd Birthday, Abby!
For many years I have written you a blog post on this day - commemorating the year that has passed and all I...
What is 23?
I don’t like to even think about when I was 23, truth-be-told. Which is why I love to think of you. You,...
Happy 21st Birthday, Abby!
Yesterday, when out running errands, I idled at an intersection and watched a homeless man holding a sign...
Hannah
Have you ever had a desire, a hunger, a longing so profound that any sacrifice would be worth its...
Happy 22nd, Emma Joy!
It was shocking enough to acknowledge your sister’s 20th birthday – the fact that I no longer have...
Happy 20th Birthday, Abby!
How has the day arrived in which I no longer have teenagers? How is it that today you turn 20? I stand in...
Before Mother’s Day
With Mother’s Day less than a week away, it feels appropriate to name and honor our larger, longer...
When Things Don’t Go as Planned
I’ve been thinking a lot, even more than I normally do, about my daughters. About the trials and...
Champagne on a Tuesday
My oldest daughter, Emma Joy, turns 21 today. Yes, Halloween. I can still picture her, just placed in my...
Happy 19th Birthday, Abby!
Your birthday. Nineteen. Somehow, it feels different this year. As I was thinking about what to write today,...
My Empty Nest
I can hardly believe the title of this post, the truth and heft of just three small words, the fact that...
My Heart (Monitor)
I am hooked up to a heart monitor right now. It’s mobile – just four electrodes connected to various and...
The Scaffolding Around My Heart
Today is Abby’s last day of high school. I just finished packing her last school lunch – ever; my last...
20 Years Ago Today
I’m awake far too early – no reason for me to be up at this hour. But rather than sleep – or attempt such, I...
In line at Starbucks…
Although women’s words have been censored or eliminated from much of our heritage, in the midst of the pain...
Happy 18th Birthday, Abby
How is it possible that this day is here? Surprisingly, miraculously pregnant with you – wasn’t that just a...
On Writing – #2
This week, I’m offering a series of posts on writing – ones I’ve written before, new ones yet unseen,...
Where the Women Gather (and why)
How might your life have been different if there had been a place for you? A place for you to go ... a place...
A story for Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day used to be the hardest day of the year for me – when lost in the throes of infertility. That is...
Nearly 20 years ago . . .
It was nearly 20 years ago that I hastily opened the drugstore-purchased home-pregnancy test, that I tried...
A Woman’s Fight
There’s an old, old story told of the patriarch, Jacob, who wrestled through the night with an angel-man,...
Happy 17th Birthday, Abby!
Today marks the 9th year in which I have written a blog post on your birthday – celebrating you, honoring...
Turning This Impossible Page
I bought a new journal a few weeks back. Planning ahead. Knowing my current one was nearly full. Wanting to...
Coexistence: Goodness AND Struggle
Emma Joy graduates from high school today. For the past few weeks, nearly everything she’s done or said has...
Channeling Etta James
It’s just before 7:00 on Friday night. I sit in the high school auditorium, about the fifth row from the...
The Stunning Story that is Yours
I see the tears behind your eyes. I know about the lump in your throat. I hear the thoughts that swirl in...
The Full Moon and other thoughts
Whoever you are: some evening take a step out of your house, which you know so well. Enormous space is...
The Sacred in a High School Gym
Yesterday morning I sat in a high school gym surrounded by teenagers. The Veteran’s Day Assembly. I wasn’t...
Happy 18th Birthday, Emma Joy!
I do not know whether to cry uncontrollably or celebrate wildly, Emma. Perhaps both. Both...and then some....
Sweet Sixteen
As you well know, Abby, my words seem to know no end. In the midst, I hope you hear those that express my...
Holy Week and Les Miserables
It’s Holy Week. As is often the case this time of year, I feel some ambivalence: a tinge of regret, a flood...
The God of Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time. There was a day when these four small words would instantly transport my eldest daughter...
I Feel, Therefore I Am
In both college and graduate school I took classes in which the work of Rene Descartes was discussed – the...
Pregnancy. Infertility. Faith.
The Ending:One day, out of the blue, unexpected, unanticipated, unbelievable, I was pregnant. And again, 15...
Life with Popcorn
Life is tough. It’s filled with disappointments, unmet expectations, hurt, grief, frustration, on and on the...
Happy 47th Birthday to Me!
After writing posts for both of my daughters on their birthdays, I thought it only fitting that I do the...
Cruising – literally…
Is there a place that one can go to get away from all thought of stolen cars or even the graciousness of...
Happy 11th Birthday, Emma Joy!
It is hard for me to remember anymore what life was like without you. I remember deeply longing for you;...
Fog
It’s not quite 7:30 in the morning and I’m on the train – heading into another day of work. Though it’s...
Happy 9th Birthday, Abby!
Much has changed in the 9 years since you were born – and much has not. In the middle of the night on...
I’m Tired
There’s much to be done these days with work, children, life. All press for my prioritization. All require...
Rescued (about a cat, mostly)
What we do not see, what most of us never suspect of existing, is the silent but irresistible power which...
Happy 50th Anniversary!
This past weekend my siblings, our families, and nearly 100 others celebrated the 50th anniversary of my...
Getting Drenched and Losing Control
This is one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite authors - Anne Lamott in Traveling Mercies: Some...
A Daughter of Defiance
I’m working on a slide show for my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary celebration. In the process, I came...
This Father’s Day
I find myself in a sort of a gray place today. Granted, it’s the Seattle area and the skies are often as...
Piano Recitals
Yesterday my 9-year-old daughter, Emma, gave her first piano recital. She was joined by 5 other young...