Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
Went to sleep with my laptop by my side. Big mistake! Casually pushed it into the spot normally occupied by my husband, but as he is away, it was so easy to do. Didn’t give it another thought. Never imagined that an object, so inanimate, would nudge me all night, invade my dreams and plea […]
Read MoreHe’d always come early, my sister’s beau, hover over me with what I mistook for childlike interest, invite me to go for a ride in his shiny new sports car – a two-seater with overdrive. I was barely fifteen. Looked like Bert Reynolds: dark hair, dark eyes, a stylish moustache. He was Russian and broad-shouldered, […]
Read More“Mom, why do we never spend time with your family? You have all these cousins I have never met. What’s up with that?” I cringe when the topic of my mother’s family comes up, never really quite certain how to explain. “None of them like me,” is the easy explanation, and in part, it’s true. […]
Read MoreThe tiny crayfish slowly made it’s way over the rocky water bed, climbing in and out of crevices, antennae constantly moving. Perched on my haunches, trying valiantly not to move and startle the small creature, I watched in fascination. His translucent body moved with such tenacity over what must surely be a challenging terrain for […]
Read MoreMinutes after my first husband and I were settling into our honeymoon suite, I got a call from my father advising me that my oldest sister had gone from the wedding reception to emergency. “I think you better come,” he told me solemnly. So we packed up and headed back. I had known that my […]
Read More“My dreams have turned violent lately, lots of blood. What could that mean?” “What does blood represent to you?” “Well passion, life giving, but these dreams have a woman being decapitated, a baby being cut with scissors, and it always occurs in connection to my childhood home.” “Not life giving, then.” “I usually convert the […]
Read More“Are you guys brother and sister?” the question came from our soon-to-be five-year-old granddaughter. Dropped off by her mother for an overnight stay, we had a day of cousins and uncles and aunts, and of course, Grandma and Grandpa. I brushed off her comment with a: “No, we’re married”, but the innocent observation shook me. […]
Read MoreMy oldest brother is a talented musician, who has been composing and recording works in his own studio for years. “I just can’t write lyrics worth a damn,” he once told me during a visit. “I write poetry,” I offered, “but have no musical aptitude.” “We should put your words and my music together!” So […]
Read MoreWrote a prescription for the perfect man: made him tall, strong, romantic, dependable, family oriented; told myself I was ready. Projected expectations onto the first likely candidate – single dad, three full-time kids – read desire in his brooding eyes, ignored the burden of his grief, the irrational speed at which we moved, the complications […]
Read MoreFrom the time I was preteen, I was obsessed with drawing the same cartoon over and over; the first illustration showed the shapely backside of a long-haired temptress, and the next frame revealed the fact that the things are not as they appear – a woman with a monstrously ugly face. It was a self-portrait, […]
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One Woman's Quest II 