For fourteen years, this dog has witnessed every word I’ve written or struggled to write. When Cynthia Newberry Martin invited me to write about one of my days on her blog, Catching Days, Chloe guided me one last time, this time with her absence. I share it here in her honor. To read, click here.
Gifts For and From the Dead
You may see the usual Halloween suspects on Halloween night – zombies, witches, the cast of characters from Game of Thrones. I’m betting you won’t see anyone dressed up as Eric Hill. Or Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Never mind Peter Matthieson, Maya Angelou, Walter Dean Myers, Daniel Keyes or Joan Rivers. Well, maybe Joan Rivers. No matter, I saw them all today … Read More
Letter to an Unknown Soldier
Dear One, I may have seen you a few years ago in the months before you left for war, walking with a child in your arms or crowded into a small fast car with others like you, music blaring, tattoos fresh. I may see you this week as we both wait for our food orders at the local Baja Fresh. … Read More
Reconstruction Day
On Good Friday last year, my step-daughter checked into the hospital for the second phase of post-mastectomy reconstruction. As we packed to go help her through the recovery, I found myself pondering the word, “reconstruction” as if I’d never heard it before. Reconstruction is what people do after tsunamis, floods, fires, and wars. Builders in New York and New Jersey can’t … Read More
Welcome
The man in this picture once told me something I have never forgotten. “Don’t be afraid to say no to people when you have to, but don’t say no to yourself.” He said this just after he hired me as a reporter for a paper called the Gloucester Daily Times, the daily that served Cape Ann, an island about 40 miles … Read More