Beauty
Beauty I’ve been seeking beauty lately, thinking about it, writing about it, appreciating it and longing for more of it. Winter has grown dull. Fall’s tawny golden grasses and rich browns are faded, dull and washed out. The landscape is drab. Fortunately, all this outside monotony has been has been interrupted by unexpected surprises —fire […]
Fog
My weather app says the sun is shining. Surely it is—somewhere—but around me it’s thickening fog. Dense clouds are dripping down a heavy wash of gray. The woods to the north are barely visible. Such impenetrable fogs trigger memories for me—always the same three.
Dense fog triggers memories for me—always the same three. The first, from 1962, is a comfortable one, full of family love, adventure and teamwork.
A Dream
I liked to watch Maggie, the golden sunlight glinting off her hair, her skin glowing like the day, and her tiny features all abloom with the innocence of childhood. This particular day, she sat in her sandbox sifting sand, her chubby legs soaking up warmth from the sand below and sun above. Her baby-plump fingers […]
Charlie and Sheila
A light breeze wrapped us in the newness of spring; the warm sun cast leafy kaleidoscopic patterns upon the ground. I was out for an afternoon walk, pushing my twenty-month old daughter Annie in her blue canvas stroller, joined to the play of light and shadows, soaking in a perfect day—until the thought came again to go there. I didn’t want to go there; to spoil the tranquility; to interrupt our walk.
The Nursing Home
Occasionally a little faith-talk or a short prayer with these elderly residents who’d faithfully said their prayers since childhood happened automatically. Sometimes they’d initiate a spiritual moment; sometimes a word of blessing would slip from my lips. Often, as the night aide, I was the last person a resident saw before sleep.
Three Rifles
We used to keep a gun, hidden and unloaded. The shells were separate, in an unlikely spot under scraps of fabric in a sewing closet. In our rural township guns are tools, just like kitchen knives and garden spades. When they’re needed, they’re needed. So we guarded that gun and shells—for emergencies.
