Post Archive by Month

I read an article last night that made me angry and sad.  And so I come here, to my keyboard, not just to vent about those feelings, but to use my voice to stand up for what I know is right. The article was featured in USA Today; today, it was trending on CNN and other news outlets.  This was …

These past few weeks have been the happiest of my boy Seamus’s life.  When I was diagnosed with pneumonia complicated by my lifelong enemy, asthma, my doctor told me that I needed to rest as much as possible.  And with the exception of going to my parents’ house for the occasional dinner, I’ve been following those orders—which means I sit …

The Irish poet Louis MacNeice is my favorite writer—I can read his poems hundreds of times and still find something new in them.  One of my favorite MacNeice poems is called “Thalassa,” meaning “the sea.”  These are the lines that jump out at me each time I read it: That last line so perfectly describes my own past life—a ruined …

Five years ago, Monty and I put our house in the city up for sale, packed up all our belongings and our cat, Ricky, and moved to this little town on the prairie.  My dad and brother wanted Monty to work for the family business they were building here.  I was familiar with the town, as my grandparents had lived …

In June, Monty and I will celebrate our 22nd anniversary.  I think of those twenty-two years and the five years we were together before we got married, and I see God’s faithfulness woven through all of it.  It’s the thread that stitched Monty and me together back then and binds us together still.  That thread of God’s faithfulness has been …

Thornton Wilder wrote a play called “Our Town,” about a small, ordinary town and the people who live there.  The main character is Emily, and the play follows her journey from childhood to marriage and, finally, her death at a young age.  After her funeral, Emily speaks with others who have died and expresses her desire to go back and …

In my very early childhood, some of my favorite times were when my parents would take the four of us kids to visit my grandparents, who lived in a little town a couple of hours away from us.  My uncle was a teenager at the time, and he was sort of our unofficial babysitter.  I loved it when he took …

I have a confession to make: I have a serious weakness for infomercials.  I don’t know what it is about three o’ clock in the morning, but if I’m watching TV and an infomercial comes on, I’m immediately interested.  My ears perk up like a dog’s when they’re offered a treat.  I’ll say to Seamus, “Look at that ridiculous thing.  …