From the back seat window the countryside slid by. Green grape vines draped across wooden stakes like outstretched arms. The road ahead curved to the left, I knew it well. A hen, halted mid-stride before crossing into our path, her wings flapped, her jerky movements paused, and she clucked a warning in Italian. Everything was […]
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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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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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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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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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Japanese rubbish took over five years to hit our shores after an earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan’s shores in 2011. Everything from house parts to car parts, about 20 million tons of it were carried across 4,500 miles of ocean. It took a while, but it eventually got here. Riding on that hunk of unmoored […]
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Generations, like peanut butter and jelly, are layered lavishly one upon another at the tables. Like a train of blessing, bowls with steam rising and platters overflowing, pass from big hands to little. A chain of exclamations, deep voices and little ones rise higher and higher in decibel. Stories and laughter richer than creamed gravy […]
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Back in the day when “missionary” brought to mind pith helmets for the men and polyester ruffles for the women, my husband and I took three little girls away from their grandparents and everything they knew to Italy. The term carried with it good-byes like “see you in about four years.” Going overseas was a […]
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I am into the fear of God. It seems to neon-light itself at me throughout Scripture. People have turned it into an undesirable emotion, but the fear of God is a good thing. The book of Proverbs loves it. “In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence…a place of refuge…a fountain of life, […]
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Sometimes being a mommy was like the ocean that disappeared into sand. Vast and unmeasurable, mommy-hood was never completely accomplished or satiated. Its demands drained, yet its beauty abounded. I wanted confidence, “You’ve got this.” But mothering was often a murky insecurity of, “I don’t know how to do this.” I wanted to thrive, but […]
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