Month: July 2017


Comforting arms of hope rescue from a snarled life

I watch my grandson knee high as he bumps from one trousered pair of legs to another across the crowded room. His vision fills with legs knee high. Unless he looks up, they are like a forest without faces. And then I see him wrap his little arms around a pair and squeeze. I watch […]

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What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

The seconds tick at the cash register. We shake out our Italian, like a moth-eaten shirt, and blink away the fog of jet-lag. Everything is a de-j-vu of having been and done long ago. Phil rifles through his wallet, the cashier waits. A seed of uncomfortable turns into embarrassment. When the opportunity came to spend […]

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MY SON WAS THE BABY OF THE FAMILY AND HAD FOUR MOTHERS

After three daughters, it was only natural that our youngest son should have four mothers. I just wasn’t expecting how tight those sibling-mommy bonds could be. When one of them forgot to shut the stair gate, I heard the thud of him hitting each step like it was my own body falling. I was the […]

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When I Asked to Know You

There is a sudden ache in my gut, like I’ve been kicked. As much as I prepare for hospital-sterile, IV’s and blinking lights, the moment I enter my daughter’s room I cannot stop the sudden intake of breath. I pause, the dread in my stomach stops my heart for a second, and I wait till […]

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