“May I just say thank you for caring about a really big issue. My son has his own story to tell about his re-entry and his attempt at suicide…we still have him. For this I am eternally grateful. And now I have a book to share with other single moms who are looking at re-entry.” –A Veteran’s Mother Dear Friends, … Read More
His Mission Now
His story, he tells me, is not so different from the stories of other veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan. He doesn’t know if he can come up with the right words, words that are “profound” enough for the post I’ve asked him to help me write. He knows that talking can unleash a storm of thoughts, feelings, memories … Read More
Learning to Walk, Learning to See
We’re two friends walking along the cliffs overlooking the Pacific. For one of us the walk is preparation for a 200-mile pilgrimage, for the other, it is a chance to taste a part of the adventure vicariously. Patty is training. I am tasting. Later this month, she’ll fly to Spain and walk two-fifths of the 500-mile journey from France to … 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