V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #60: belief

August 5, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Growing up, my mother told me over and over that I was not loveable. I heard it so often, it became a personal truth. I didn’t examine or question it until my former husband told me, after seventeen years, that he didn’t love me, had never loved me. Of course, I told myself, I am […]

All Worth Mentioning

August 4, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

The things that inspire us,a moving read,steps we have takenepiphanies,perceptions,quotations,magical spaces,truths,a kiss…all worth mentioning. Thanks to all who participated this week! Word-Whelmed WomanProsceniumReena SaxenaStuff and what if…one letter UPSgeoilAWISEWOMANSJOURNEYparallax See you tomorrow for a new challenge! (Featured image from personal collection and available through Society6 and Redbubble.)

V.J. Weekly Challenge #58: Just When I Thought…

July 22, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Just when I thought I knew where we were headed, life threw another curveball. It happened simply enough. Ric experienced a brief period of blindness in one eye. “Just the bottom half of the eye,” he’d tell the doctor later. “And some weakness in my left arm.” The family doctor recommended a trip to Urgent […]

Sacred Witness

July 21, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

Illness affords me time,and time begs observation. Used to think that if I prayed enough,was enlightened enough, I could call uponthe presence of a divine spirit to intervene,change the course of suffering. Now, I know that we are not called uponto alter God’s plans, control not withinour mortal hands, but we are commanded to observe, […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #57: Presence

July 15, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

“Isolation threatens to consume me,” I tell my therapist in a recent visit. “I’m not willing to disappear into the woodwork again.” The doctors say my illness is relapsing; it’s how they explain the onslaught of infections. I’ve just finished another round of even stronger antibiotics. While my immune system fights invasion, I am staving […]

Shadows Speak

July 14, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Shadows stalk our conversations, Mother and I. It’s not so much what is said, but what hovers between the lines spoken. Fear stalks her – death so close – and I sidestep darkness. It’s an illusion, of course, this thought that we can think ourselves well, or avoid pain by focusing only on the light. […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #56: Language

July 8, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

“We need language to tell us who we are, how we feel, what we’re capable of – to explain the pains and glory of our existence.” – Maya Angelou “Do you not like the book you are reading?” My granddaughter shrugs in response. Normally an avid reader, I wonder why she keeps setting this particular […]

Sometimes Risk Is Called For

July 7, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

Jane Juska has been on my mind all week. At sixty-six, the divorced, mother of one, decided it was time to reclaim her sexuality, so she posted an ad in The New York Review of Books: Before I turn 67 – next March – I would like to have a lot of sex with a […]

Reclaiming Mindfulness

July 6, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

Post marital disruption, I would go to the river every day, say a prayer for guidance, power walk off the stress, and then sit in quiet contemplation facing the water. My son referred to it as “Mom finding inner peace.” Power walking is a thing of the past, and every day is no longer doable, […]

Of Trauma Born

Goodbyes tarnishfaith, like ashesscattered My heart grows dismissal,craves a balm of connectionseeks quiet harbour Remind me what it feels like to be safebreath nurturing life,love a rhythmic flow In meditationI reach for peaceimagine salvation But this wayward chaosunrestrainedcements me in doubt Tainted intentionsI lift up to the Universea tempest without hope My soul incubates malicea […]

Hawk (haiku)

Relevance of Story

Stories have power. Parents, teachers, public speakers, and therapists understand that the secret to engaging an audience or connecting with others is through illustration: storytelling. I see it in the eyes of the my grandchildren, who love to hear tales of family history. I’ve seen in the eyes of students, when recognition and understanding light […]