What I wanted was a fax machine.What I got was a diamond necklace. But for two weeks I could not let myself enjoy it! We had always been practical people. Our very first Christmas as a married couple, I had dreams of a tree with lots of presents under it for my new husband. I'd received a bonus from the little school I was teaching…
As I eased into consciousness this morning, a lovely plate of plastic corn and plastic chicken appeared at my elbow. It was served by my four-year old nephew, wearing football pjs and a smile that nearly split his face. He demonstrated that the chicken needed to be eaten with both hands, because when you eat it that way, you can turn it to see the…
When Everything Started Happening, I found I needed to remember more, much more, than I had brain space for. I was mercifully helped by remembering to follow my mom's lifelong advice: get a fresh pad of paper and a nice, sharp pencil, and write, write, write. Or, to return to Lewis Carroll's Wonderland for a minute: "That moment," the King went on, "I shall never,…
I'm still here, friends. Thanks for checking in. I bring with me a story to describe my month-long absence. In Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Alice finds herself in the company of the Red Queen. They are hand in hand, running, running, running. The wind whistles in Alice's ears. Her hair streams behind her, and her feet skim the ground. She runs so hard she can hardly…
Save me, O God,for the waters have come up to my neck.Psalm 69:1 The truth about treading water is that it does beat drowning. The rest of the truth is that you can't do it half-way; staying afloat only happens when you bring all your energies to bear on the effort.People don't enter deep water intending to stay in one place indefinitely. But when they find themselves up to…
It's probably the kindergarten teacher in me, but I think all our lives we are playing one giant game of Freeze Tag. You remember that game? When you are tagged, you freeze instantly, stuck mid-stride until someone touches you to unfreeze you. The person who froze you may have snuck up on you from behind and taken you off-guard, or you may have seen him or her coming, but one…
One summer afternoon, Jack and I were driving home from the shore in bumper to bumper traffic. As usual, he was paying attention to his surroundings. "Too bad that guy spent more than a million bucks for that car and can only drive it 35 mph like the rest of us." "Which one?" I asked. "The red or the green?" "The blue. Or he could be like…
It must be admitted up front that Jack and I liked receiving birthday cards as much for the checks taped inside as for the content of the cards. I'm just being honest. We saw the signatures, thought of the hands that wrote them and the people who loved us. And then we made a point to go to the bank and cash them in. Those checks weren't the actual…
As many of you know, Jack never met a map he didn't like. His affinity for them started when he was a boy taking road trips with his Aunt Laura. She'd hand him a map and go where he said. What adventures he had with her! Those were dear times for nephew and aunt. And over the years he developed an unerring sense of direction. As long as I knew…
I heard a true story about a friend who was vacationing with her family by a lake. One day she fell asleep on her raft. Through the course of the afternoon she drifted out quite a distance until someone noticed her predicament and sent a boat out to bring her back.The storyteller then asked, "What did she have to do in order to drift?" And…