family life, spiritual life

A trail of book crumbs

I thought I knew all the juicy family "secrets." The marriages, the not-quite marriages and, well, the one about the many-greated uncle -- a farmer who was shot to death on a dirt road I have actually walked. The story is that my relative discovered someone was stealing his chicken feed and he poisoned the… Continue reading A trail of book crumbs

family life, spiritual life

A Year of Grieving Comfortably

The first time I put on a piece of my mother’s clothing – excepting for frequent try-ons of a pair of metallic gold dress shoes that lured me into her closet when I was young -- was the night she died. A sudden stroke last Easter weekend became an instant, irreversible coma. She lingered only… Continue reading A Year of Grieving Comfortably

family life

Driving me crazy

Driving 400 miles in a car one has had a mere six days with two tech-savvier-than-thou teen daughters was, well, an experience. As my husband has a near obsession with buying cars that might outlive us both, we hadn't bought a vehicle in forever. In so long that any business interaction involving their years of… Continue reading Driving me crazy