If you remember anything about Robert Frost from your high school CliffsNotes, it’s likely some version of “the best way out is always through.” Maybe that’s true sometimes, but other times I think the way out may be to go back or even to be still. What I’ve come to believe is more true, particularly…
My Dad has had a very big 24 hours. I imagine on his first day in heaven he got to see his Mom, reunite with all the folks in the great cloud of witnesses that cheered him on during his 82 years here, see all the cats and dogs and horses and fish he dearly…
In the last week I have watched two documentary series about 9/11, and the thing that sticks in my mind above all else is how much we’re capable of coming together. Of helping people, while not even thinking about differences. We can just be good humans and good neighbors. If we could just figure out…
Feast or famine. We’re all getting along gloriously, or annoyed and arguing all day. We find three pairs of shoes we want, or zero pairs of shoes that will be the needed match. The kitchen is full of desserts and we overeat, or we hate everything we see in the pantry. Tough conversations also seem…
I want America to be great. But sometimes that’s hard to even visualize when I look at where we are today. What does great even mean? That word has been co-opted by people wearing red hats and I’m not even sure that the majority of them can define the greatness we used to have that…
I support strong women. I do not have to agree with everything a strong woman believes in to support her. I do not have to agree with everything a strong woman believes in to know she can do her job. I do not have to agree with everything a strong woman believes in to vote…
What makes a home is very simple: love and safety. Safety to be your whole self and to say anything, while knowing without a shadow of a doubt that you will always be unconditionally loved by the people there. It’s true when you’re 5 and when you’re 75. Home can be a house, apartment, tent,…
When I was a young girl I heard my first real bit of advice about love, and it went something like this: if you read 1 Corinthians 13 and cannot replace the word love with a special someone’s name, then that’s not your person. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it…
My youngest is eight years old and all throughout this season I’ve been a bit melancholy. I suspect this is the last Christmas where she’ll believe in Santa, and it makes me a little sad. I’m frankly surprised we made it to this age with that magic intact. In years ahead there will still be…
Love is never ever ever selfish. Love is never present when there are excuses or narratives or explanations. Love does not coexist with those things. Love is black and white in terms of its presence. It's either evident or it is absent. If a person's behavior is selfish, the only love involved is the individual's…
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