Navigating life through grandparenthood, chronic illness, dream work, and other inspirations
I dreamt it a year ago, and with the help of my husband and the support of my much more tech savvy kids, this new chapter of our life has come to fruition. I remember an animated breakfast conversation after that initial dream, last March. (A dear friend of mine and I were selling gifts […]
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The new year grabbed me in a choke hold and hog-tied me before I had a chance to even think about what it might bring. It started with a text that my mother was in hospital, followed by a harried searching of flights and anxious speculating about how I’ll get home. Me, who hasn’t ventured […]
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My granddaughter paints a row of red flowers with crosses in between. “Flanders Field” she tells me. She’s six. “Your great-great grandfather, my grandfather, was shot in Flanders Field.” She raises her eyes to meet mine. “Did he die?” “No, but he was injured.” He was crawling across the field when the bullet entered and […]
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There is a painter inside of me busting to get out. She talks to me, while I am working – makes suggestions, helps me pick the right brush, encourages different strokes. I like it when she is present. Listening to her is an act of letting go. It is a form of trusting. A growing […]
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“What do you pray for?” “Inner peace.” “And what are you willing to sacrifice in order to achieve this desire?” The question startles me. “What do you mean?” “To achieve the sacred, you must be emptied of that which obstructs its passage. What stands in the way of receiving your highest good?” I have to […]
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It snowed early that year, and those who gathered at the church hall were dressed to keep out the cold, mumbling about the weather, and helping themselves to warm beverages. Seems deaths come in threes, and this was the third of our family members we’d buried in as many months. “Where’s Uncle Charles?” I asked […]
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The atrocities of Auschwitz are no secret, and yet, every surviving story reveals another angle, not only of suffering and inhumanity, but also of the incredible endurance of the human spirit and kindness in the darkest of moments. The Tattooist of Auschwitz is about a young man, Jewish, who volunteers for work duty and finds […]
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