Happy New Year to You and Me! As this day marks my 10th anniversary it is extra special to me. Ten years ago today I awoke from a coma in a small hospital in a foreign country. I’d taken my kids for the week to an intensive language school in Veracruz, Mexico. We left home […]

  When I was a young teenager, my quiet, steadfast stepfather gave me a lamp. Not an electric lamp, but one in which oil is the fuel and a wick provides the light. He attached a small note to the gift. It said, “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto […]

It was 2006 at Easter Brunch out in the Texas Hill Country. Carol, a mom of my son’s classmate was grumbling about her dog, a young, yellow lab named Henry. They really loved him, but were very concerned that they’d have to give him away due to his escape artistry. “He jumps the fence all […]

  Tragedy strikes. And it breaks our heart open. Sometimes we get stretched beyond all reason, beyond all endurance, to the point of breaking. Seeing it, my heart goes out with compassion.   Compassion for ourselves, for our daily failures. Compassion for others, for helplessness in the face of powers greater than human. Compassion that […]

Late last summer I had to change my route from home to wherever I was headed. The most expedient, convenient, logical way from my house to the main thoroughfare was inaccessible. My road was closed. I could no longer take my familiar way through by driving around barriers or outwitting the road construction. A new […]

This is the kind of story that keeps me going– doing what I do. Successes–small and large are what keep us moving toward the brightness of the future. Whether baby’s first steps, a passing grade or a full deep breath, completion juices us with lovely hormones and a welcome sense of satisfaction. This crossing a […]

Years ago I was in a workshop with my professor, Sam Osherson, who offered a four-day workshop on “Restoring the Broken Link between Fathers and Sons.” (That probably wasn’t the exact title, it was a long time ago, but that was the gist). I was intrigued and signed up for it. The next three and […]

If you follow along with me on FB, you know transitions have been a theme the last few weeks. One thing that makes them doable is the punctuation at the end. (I was saddened when I learn that two spaces after a period was no longer proper grammatical style.) Ok, so I’ll change metaphors. The […]

I remember the excited delight of getting out of school for the summer. It was great and we students were ready to jump long before the final bell rang. Sweet memories I cherish, but not so much how I feel about May these days. Nevertheless, here we go. It’s the end of May, heading into […]

“Practice dying.” That is family therapist Carl Whitaker’s advice on living fully (he was quoting Plato). Throughout the 25 years that quote has been posted on my bulletin board, I’ve revised my interpretation of it from time to time. After being so ill once that I literally did have one foot in the grave, I’ve […]