When I saw the prompt for an essay contest a while back, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. The prompt was this: write about a moment you would like to have back, to do differently if you could. Although there are many such moments in my life, it wasn’t hard to come up with the one I needed … Read More
Sunset 2013
As 2013 began to draw to its close, the skies over southern California began to light up. For several weeks in December, many of us would be on our way into the house to make dinner only to become spellbound. More than once, the early risers among us caught the moon fading into a glory of blues, golds, violet and, … Read More
State of Pray: New Hampshire Memories
A while back, Mark Koopmans was looking for people across the country and beyond to represent their states or countries in a project called 50 States of Pray today. Here you’ll find thoughts, reflections, memories, wishes for the future or regrets of the past, perhaps something entirely unexpected, the best kind of gift. I’m honored to represent the great state of New Hampshire … Read More
The Gift of Found Time
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” ― Annie Dillard A little over eight years ago my father’s heart stopped. One minute he was clutching his tennis racquet and waiting for the other doubles team to serve. The next, he was on the floor. His wife, an ex-firefighter and an amazing human being, resuscitated … Read More
Hitting Bottom and Calling it Home
Thirty one years ago, Jim Mastro applied for a job as a seal trainer at the San Diego Zoo. He didn’t get it so he went to work in Antarctica. For a year. When I met Jim earlier this year at the Southern California Writer’s Conference, I knew none of this. If I had, I would have abandoned what I … Read More
Intervention
I don’t know what kind of bird this is, I don’t know its sex. All I know is that for five days it occupied my backyard, walking around among my herb pots with a bemused air, as if hoping any minute to find a familiar face or landmark. There was no visible injury, no reason that I could see that … Read More
The Mother My Daughter Is
From Betsy: This is the first time I’ve re-blogged anything but this piece by Jan Wilberg broke my heart in a good way. I wanted to share it. Here’s to mothers, daughters, honesty, love. And to being glad.
Love, A La Mode
When I moved from the East Coast to San Diego in the spring of 2002, I found myself a stranger in a place that felt like home. There is no explaining that kind of feeling, it just happens. It happens more easily when you land in a community of loving, welcoming people who begin as acquaintances and become friends. Some … Read More
Journeys and Thanks
Dear Fellow Travelers, With my last post “A Journey to Now,” I wrapped up a month-long celebration of journeys and books. Each post focused on a particular journey and the book that either took me or came along for the ride. Because this month also encompassed my birthday, always a milestone in life’s journey, I celebrated by sharing the books … Read More
A Journey To Now
In May I was feeling the loss of an old friend very deeply. It was his birthday month and a year since the last time I’d seen him. May was the time he’d normally be wrapping up his training for the Mount Washington Road Race in New Hampshire’s Presidential Range. Unable to run last year, he and I made breakfast … Read More