“There will be a lot of hugs today,” she says, drawing me in with arms growing long enough to catch the world.  Her brassy hair falls against my cheek and lightly tickles my hands as I press them into her back.  I count her ribs, the knobby vertebrae in her spine.  She feels strong, solid, […]

After supper and all our lingering, we wander from the table on the porch like suddenly unmoored boats, drifting away beneath the glow of the twinkle lights.  Our conversation fades with a last few dropped notes above the drone of the cicadas and the clatter of silverware against our plates as we collect the remnants […]

In the balmy, breezy afternoon, as the wind chimes tinkle and bong and birds chirp at the feeders, we make time for listening.  We slide our chairs away from the table, gathering crumbs on our fingers, dropping them lightly on the crumpled napkins left discarded on our plates.  The hour smells of sun and mellowing […]

It requires a good washing to ready the planks.  From inside, where I scrub unseen demons from our stainless steel sink, rubbing at the curves, pressing down with my fingers, I hear the steady pounding of water.  I hear the rapid smack against the windows, the siding, the beams.  The word wash feels too soft, […]

In the beginning, nothing.  I stand at the edge of a wide, blank canvas.  From the street, as the first light cracks open the sky, I only see a broad, smooth, sandy plain, and beyond this, a dazzling sheet of silver glass.  For a number of days, I disconnect everything and step away, wiping it […]

In the blaze of afternoon, we slide our chairs up to the table, turning coffee mugs with our fingers, light and quick.  Let me look at you, I think, but I don’t say it aloud; my teenager finds overt attention awkward.  I want to say “parenty” things she will not believe until she sits at a […]

At the end of the day, when I walk in from the shore with the sunset on my cheeks and my skin still warm from the sun, I find the text: I know you’re at the beach, but I just had to tell you what happened today.  The text comes from one of Adam’s gifted […]

Friday morning, while the light’s still new, Adam slides his Father’s Day gift out of hiding. “Play golf,” Adam says, pausing the game he’s playing on the Xbox, sauntering over to where Kevin and I stand talking, dropping the words like a couple of coins in Kevin’s palm.  Adam watches our faces, looking for something–a […]

Early morning and the way feels long, as though I’ve meandered for miles without a full inhale, and my finger pauses over this verse: “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter (Exodus 13:17).”  I imagine the way those freed women felt, wrapping […]

Anger and hurt, dancing like the steam curling mad over my coffee cup, propel me under until criticism rolls off my tongue.  The words have a metallic tang, as though I’ve bitten my lip.  I draw my knees up into the chair, wrapping my fingers around my bare feet, feeling the bones.  Zoe and I […]