11Apr 14, 2017
We wind our way along Pier 60 just as the sun dips, melting gold right into the ocean. I stand a moment and just breathe, watching the way the waves rise, wind-shaped right out of the glass sea. The pier is a flurry of activity as the city gears up for a festival on the […]
12Jan 13, 2017
It really wasn’t until we turned into the neighborhood—5 minutes, maybe, from home–that the ice really made me nervous. An hour and a half away, we’d started to see a dusting, just bits of dazzling white in the grass; here and there, a glassy ditch or frozen puddle. If it’s like this here, Zoe murmured then, […]
13Nov 28, 2014
We will travel a long way to be with family. Dark as pitch in the pouring rain, lights reflecting on the wet road, and our kids settle in with pillows and blankets—two wide-eyed; one quickly asleep again. I grip a tumbler full of coffee–black and murky like the night sky–in my chilled hands, preparing myself […]
14Nov 30, 2012
We walk in the museum as the day turns to shadow—my sister-friend and I and our bouncing scribble of children. Our group moves like an earthworm—fat and thick in the middle, undulating in a thin, crooked line in front and behind. We are multi-colored coats, scarves, boots and tennis shoes, wading into the snarl in […]
15Mar 16, 2012
It’s as though every day is the first time I’ve met God, the first time I’ve loved Him. I wake up and I can’t remember who I am, or that I’m abundantly blessed. I feel trapped in the weary, aware of the walls that surround me, boxed in and dull. And then He shows me […]
16Jan 6, 2012
Last week, Kevin and I went backpacking on the Appalachian Trail. I loved it. And I hated it. And now, days later, I still want to go back. Identity intrigues me, the way we allow the details of life to shape our perception of possibility; the way I have limited my own view of who […]
17Jun 10, 2011
Last weekend, Adam went camping with his dad for the first time. And the most wonderful thing happened: he had a blast. Living with autism, there are things we parents just get used to not being able to do with our children. We stand in groups of parents who are chattering about all the things […]
18Apr 8, 2011
Ocracoke is a beautiful island, and our life here for the last week has been like a dream. This is my view, sitting on the deck, where today writing follows lectio divina. On at least one evening, I finished the day in this spot, as the last evidence of the dying sun melted into the […]
19May 1, 2009
Do you remember what road trips were like growing up? We used to do things that would now be considered illegal. I remember the rhythm of my dad’s feet down the steps and thumping against the driveway as he toted me out the front door in my pajamas in the wee hours of the morning. […]
20Oct 6, 2008
The past few days, it’s been our blessing to share time with Brian, Michelle, and Brayden while visiting Kevin’s mom and dad. My nephew makes the third of four grandchildren on that side to have been diagnosed with autism. Brayden reminds me a lot of Adam. He loves letters and numbers to the point of […]