The minute I see the buses, my throat gets thick, before I’ve even spotted my son in the crowds of children clotting the walkways. I’ve come to cheer him on, to acknowledge that he works hard and pushes through.  I want him to see me there waiting, watching.  “Run, Adam.  Run!”  I will shout his […]

Source: trendingfitnessblog.com via Elysa on Pinterest She doesn’t know me, so I say it without hesitation, handing her a tissue: Just…punch today in the face. Maybe it seems like an odd thing to say in an elevator, after she’s pushed the down and turned to me, tears still marking up her cheeks, after she’s crumbled a […]

Sunday afternoon sunlight dances through the curtains, playing across the table.  Riley’s fingers tap against the computer keyboard.  She sits with papers strewn—bubble maps for planning paragraphs, comparison notes, an interview answered via email.  She stops periodically to move her finger across the page beside her, pausing to say, “Mom, I need help over here—with […]

She stands just on the other side of the bar as Kevin and I wash dishes, reading aloud to me from a book.  I’ve suggested that she read to herself, but she says she just likes reading to me.  The truth is, it’s easier for her to remember what she hears aloud.  Somewhere, that fact about […]

“What about innocent children with cancer?  Where is god then.” There it is, questioning bold, just below this image: It’s a question for which there are no easy answers, one even believers ask when innocents suffer. Where is the throne of God, the Almighty King, loving, faithful, when this world doesn’t look much like a […]

It’s funny when it’s a game.* I mean, it’s inside joke material that will make us giggle for years, how I got my tongue stuck to a frozen flagpole became Iwo Jima in the space of fifteen minutes.  But the truth is, these strips of paper should be framed as reminders of this: I don’t have all the information. […]

We gather, curling into chairs and each other, a half-moon twice bonded by blood—blood in our veins and scarlet-robed in Christ. There’s something important about this—the gathering.  Living, we circle each other as satellites, moving in and away, making different bright constellations.  But in these moments of worship, we are all here, all present, all […]

3 am and I wake with a gasp, resurrected from deep sleep.  I am so tired that the word tired doesn’t quite work.  Trampled might be better. It is an unlikely night for a victory. Adam stands next to my bed, shifting, trying for words.  I’m not sure if he touched me or if I […]

“DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) is a medical emergency, and without treatment it can lead to death.” This truth makes me shudder as I kneel beside my son and scrub the leg of his jeans where he points, where some of the toxic sickness missed the bucket beside him and soiled his clothes.  Sick Adam is strong, […]

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 […]