Solitude and Community Are Not Mutually Exclusive

I made the move to Phoenix in November of 2011, after nearly 27 years of existence within the state of Indiana, sans a few trips overseas and to Colorado. It was probably one of the craziest, most reckless decisions I’ve ever made. To give a little background, my family—mom, stepfather, sister,...

March 5th, 2013 | Family | Read More

Eyes On Him

Safe! DING! With a swing of the bat, the little white sphere, headed toward the catcher’s mitt, was forced to do an about-face, and was now outfield-bound. The 11-year-old batter, realizing he hit this one well, was determined to stretch it into a double. As the runner rounded first base,...

November 29th, 2012 | Family | Read More

The Seven (or Twenty Year) Itch

Me: “If you ever find yourself attracted to another woman, will you please tell me?” Dean: “I knew that was coming. I’m actually surprised it took this long.” Me: “Well, dang. Look around us, it’s rampant. And I know it would be a hard conversation to have but...

November 14th, 2012 | Family | Read More

Five Kisses

My grandpa’s room was on a high-up floor of a hospital in Lansing, Michigan. Walking down the hall, we could see the State Capitol building through a window. I walked back and forth across that window, looking at the white peaked building. The strange thing that I remember is that the closer to the...

October 18th, 2012 | Essays, Family | Read More

The Danger of Living like the Joneses

I continue to marvel that here, in the 21st century, we are still so deeply wrapped in the notion that we must keep up with the Joneses. We are so tied to not only wanting but needing to prove ourselves perfect that we end up sacrificing a large portion of who we are and who we are designed to be. Is...

August 9th, 2012 | Family | Read More

Choices

I’m at this odd age now. This time of transition that a lot of my friends are going through, a time that I’m working out with a bit of fear and trembling. It’s a time when many of my friends are having not their first but their second child. Some are finished and have hit the showers...

July 19th, 2012 | Essays, Family | Read More

Bullies R Us

Watch your thoughts, they become words. Watch your words, they become actions. Watch your actions, they become habits. Watch your habits, they become your character. Watch your character, it becomes your destiny. Anonymous Sometimes there is a confluence of events that that makes current...

June 21st, 2012 | Essays, Family | Read More

Of Health Care and Human Rights

Words swirl around the issue of healthcare in the USA as if it were some kind of arcane medieval discussion along the lines of discerning how many angels could dance on the head of a pin. But healthcare, like love, is no abstraction. It matters, and makes sense, only when it directly touches – or...

May 25th, 2012 | Democracy, Editorial, Family, Social Justice | Read More

Pancake Devotions

As the clock passes six in the morning, I anticipate the sound of little feet and a very loud voice entering my room. My son is a loud talker from 5:30 to 9:00 in the morning. I used to wonder why the volume and the intensity at these God forsaken hours only, but here’s what I have learned. Although...

May 22nd, 2012 | Essays, Family | Read More

A Story for Bella

As with most things creepy and scary, it started with a scream. Not a cry for help, really. More like someone who had just seen a ghost. And then came a succession of loud and perplexing sounds; the reverberating thud of things being thrown aside and run over. When she was twenty-four years...

May 15th, 2012 | Essays, Family | Read More

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