Last Tuesday, Atticus and I showed up at the surgical center before 6:30 (yes, that is in the morning) for him to get a second round of tubes. He’d had three ear infections in the two months since his first set fell out, and those ear infections were making all of us miserable. So, tubes. [...]
Categories: How to save a life
“Dusting” by Marilyn Nelson Thank you for these tiny particles of ocean salt, pearl-necklace viruses, winged protozoans: for the infinite, intricate shapes of submicroscopic living things. For algae spores and fungus spores, bonded by vital mutual genetic cooperation, spreading their inseparable lives from equator to pole. My hand, my arm, make sweeping circles. Dust climbs [...]
Categories: How to save a life,Poetry
I had a friend in high school who did actual Bible drills, presenting the Bible with one hand on top and one underneath until he was given the signal to start searching. He was good at it, could find chapter and verse without breaking any of the rules by flipping pages. My church didn’t do [...]
Categories: General,How to save a life
I put Shrove Tuesday in my phone because I had ideas of making something nice for Atticus. I don’t particularly like pancakes but I like ritual and memories and bacon. In my mind, I was being gracious: It’s for Atticus. A holiday for children. But it turned out that the pancakes were pretty good. Atticus’s [...]
Categories: How to save a life
It seemed an inconsequential decision at the time: Well, we are going to visit some churches and that guy Frank, he was nice, so why don’t we visit his church? After the service, Frank and Patsy took us out to lunch and I have no idea whether I said the words I am not interested [...]
Categories: How to save a life
On Wednesday, I got a series of text messages from Mike that amounted to OMG SNOW!!!!! I do not take these texts very seriously, as I am married to a person who checks the 15-day forecast for snow. I still don’t believe that the 15-day forecast is actually a thing. Our meteorologists barely know what [...]
Categories: How to save a life
An empty room is silent. A room where people are not speaking or moving is quiet. Silence is a given, quiet a gift. Silence can’t be anything but silent. Quiet chooses to be silent. It holds its breath to listen. It waits and is still. “In returning and rest you shall be saved,” says God [...]
Categories: General,How to save a life
When I was pregnant with Atticus, I attended a church service that featured a rambunctious young boy who was not particularly interested in being quiet. I was distracted by the noise, and I was troubled by my own frustrations. In utero, Atticus showed signs of being quite a lively boy himself. How could I parent [...]
Categories: How to save a life,Intentional Parenting
“The Bible is full of evidence that God’s attention is indeed fixed on the little things. But this is not because God is a great cosmic cop, eager to catch us in minor transgressions, but simply because God loves us–loves us so much that the divine presence is revealed even in the meaningless workings of [...]
Categories: How to save a life
My dad, he was a good man, but this is one thing he told me when I was a little girl: You can run for president, but I won’t vote for you. His reasoning was two-fold: he wasn’t much for voting and he didn’t think a woman should be president. I think he would have [...]
Categories: How to save a life
I am celebrating Candletime this year, a made-up period between Halloween and Thanksgiving in which you light candles, dim your lights, and be cozy. I hope you will all be joining me. As we head towards the darkest night of the year, we could all do with a little bit more light. For the first [...]
Categories: How to save a life
In my library, we have some great new books and circulation is up for the year. There have been classes scheduled almost every day and I have helped with projects and computer issues and books on tornadoes. It’s been the best kind of busy, and I have been the good kind of tired. I do [...]
Categories: How to save a life,Library
“I used to dream about escaping my ordinary life, but my life was never ordinary. I had simply failed to notice how extraordinary it was.” –Ransom Riggs It is good to spend time with people who are in the same stage of life. We send desperate text messages and push swings on the playground and [...]
Categories: How to save a life
Students lie to me every day. I know where that book is. It’s at home. I’ll bring it tomorrow. Or, My teacher sent me in here and she said I don’t need a note. Or, I didn’t touch it and I don’t know how it broke. I cock an eyebrow and I try not to [...]
Categories: How to save a life
Atticus is doing great at drop-off in the mornings at his school, and he hugs his friends goodbye when he leaves in the afternoon. He is less anxious in the mornings and at bedtime, and he’s waking up less at night. But those early evening hours? Specifically between 5:00 and 7:00? They are challenging. He’s [...]
Categories: How to save a life
The joy I have felt about getting in the zone at work has been tempered somewhat by the fact that the beginning of school has been particularly hard on Atticus. He is doing great at his own school, playing with the other kids and singing songs and showing off how much he knows. He is [...]
Categories: How to save a life
I remember the summer there were thunderstorms every afternoon, the relief I felt when the dark clouds would roll in. As the rain poured on the metal roof of our mobile home, I would sit on my bed and read the Little House books as fast as I could. All too soon, the sun would [...]
Categories: How to save a life
We read a book about the sand and the ocean and the birds and the sky to try to prepare Atticus, but he didn’t really know what we were talking about. Just pictures in a book, undifferentiated from Yoda or the dinosaurs that roar. His sweet face was so trusting when he repeated the words [...]
Categories: How to save a life
When you are a little girl, your older cousin seems impossibly cool. He has cable at his house, and he has two older brothers and an older sister. They have cats. He teaches you about different things throughout the years: The Hobbit, REM, They Might Be Giants. You use your Fisher Price tape recorder to [...]
Categories: Family,How to save a life
We are having a lovely summer. (Especially compared to last year. Mostly because we are all getting some sleep.) But this has been a week of sad news. I have been reading poetry, and I thought I would post one of my favorites. Please enjoy this poem by Jane Kenyon, who tells the truth in [...]
Categories: How to save a life,Poetry