Look me in the eye
I spend a lot of time on sidewalks. I walk to and from Mass every morning, to my car that may well be parked many blocks away, to the...
Whether we live or die
I’d never been to the funeral of a perfect stranger before. Nor had I cried so bitterly over the loss of someone I’d never met and never...
Love in the time of tempera
Now, I’m sure it’s just a phase, but I think I’m obsessed. It all started with a perfectly innocuous exhibit at the National Gallery of...
Summer reading
Remember summer reading? I don’t think I ever enjoyed it. And I’ve always loved reading. Growing up without a TV in my house was helpful....
Sweet, sweet summer
I don’t think I’ve ever before been so sorrowful at the end of summer. Isn’t summer marvelous? It’s the best. Long days, warm nights,...
This valley of tears
My heart has been aching. Has your heart been aching? We live in a troubling world, a tenuous time. We see hatred and violence bred from...
The Insomnia Chronicles
I have insomnia. It’s sporadic and self-diagnosed and (please, please, Lord) temporary. Sometimes it means I can’t fall asleep until 3....
I'm a little sailboat
Lord, make me a sailboat. It’s a prayer that I prayed at the end of the dock one early morning at the lake. For days I’d watched...
Braver on the way back
If I ever have kids, I want them to climb trees and bike down hills and do flips off the high dive. To get scrapes and scratches and...
The case of the missing chair
We spent every morning together. I’d wake up and slip out of bed hours before the others, the rising sun beckoning through my curtainless...
