“Someone needs to take out the trash. I can smell it from here.” Our daughter, the prima donna, diva ballerina shouted from the stairs as she rounded the corner to grab her bagel breakfast before heading off to high school. Claiming an extremely sensitive sense of smell, she regularly managed to opt out of this…
It all started on a Tuesday night. My husband and I had been on our daughter about completing her school work, and since it was the end of her quarter, I’d been on her like white on rice about her “missing” assignments and such. So, she suddenly realized she had a couple of things due…
Anxiety likes to hang out in waiting rooms. If you’ve ever waited in a doctor’s office to hear the diagnosis, or in a surgical area to learn the results, or in a hospital room to get your pain meds, you know what I mean. Anxiety rumbles in the waiting room like tremors before an earthquake,…
I grew up in an Italian family in a predominantly Italian community in the western suburbs of Chicago where I learned how the pillars of my ethnic heritage are open hearts, open doors, warm hospitality, and the sacredness of the table. My grandparents emigrated to America in the 1920s. My maternal grandmother, my Nonna Pierina,…
I leaned forward in my seat, caught up by the music coming from the choir and symphony orchestra. It was the church’s annual Christmas concert, and the melodies coming from the stage pulled at my heartstrings. Strangely, though, the music made me both happy and sad at the same time. You see, I grew up…
Balance has always been important to me. I thrive on variety and fear being one-dimensional, so I dabble in a host of things, contorting myself as I try to keep them all suspended mid-air. Until just recently, I felt almost cocky when it came to balance. I thought I had it down. That’s when the…
“Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.” The whispered phrase, repeated like a Gregorian chant as John leaned back against the bathroom wall submitting to my husband’s lifting of one foot, then the other. The immediate goal, get him into a clean pair of pajamas and prevent him from collapsing on the floor….
I was in the kitchen making a cup of tea when our phone rang. Our family physician was on the other end of the line. Dr. Love (don’t you love his name?) wanted to speak to my husband. I carried the receiver up to John, then left the room to give him some privacy. When…
We are both cancer survivors, my husband and I. Like many people, I had always feared hearing that diagnosis. My father, a non-smoker, had lung cancer, passing on at age 68 just three months after being diagnosed. My mother had bladder cancer in her 80s that required a long and difficult treatment plan. And then…
Doll Houses. Ghetto houses. Foster homes. Group homes. Children’s homes. So many houses. So few homes. I stand in front of a dilapidated building in an urban neighborhood. Its porch is sagging to the right, the railing on the stoop has long been broken off, leaving a jagged, rusted stump jutting up from the crumbling concrete…
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12 Heather Jo sits in her eighth grade home economics class sewing a pillow. The shape is uneven and the stuffing bulky, so she decides to rip open the seams and try again. She knows that if she keeps…
We were up so early that it was still dark outside. In typical Florida style, the sky was foggy and heavy with dampness. The drive to the airport in my 12-year-old mind was magical; we were setting off on an adventure and moving to Bermuda. This was new for me because though I was born…
When my girls were tiny Jerry and I cherished every new miracle. The first baby tooth! Eating finger food! Crawling, walking brought applause and cheers. I loved watching their little minds work as they began to talk and figure out new experiences. (At first sight of Georgia clay, two-year-old Dede sang out, “Look, Mommy! Sunburned…
At times, the most extravagant beauty is found in simplicity. The brilliance radiated by a single firefly. The intricate, colorful design adorning one tropical fish. A single rose. “Simple” allows one to hone in and marvel at the craftsmanship. My thoughts of simple beauty and nature naturally gravitate to memories of my husband’s grandfather Elmer….