Well Sandy, it’s been a year since your untimely demise. For someone who started a dozen different lives and a thousand different projects but rarely finished any of them, you certainly made a complete and thorough job of leaving this earthly plane. You have disappeared from my texts, my phone calls, my presence, and lately, even from my dreams. If I wasn’t so pissed, I’d be impressed. I have done a lot of comfort eating this past year. I justified it by telling mysel

It is yesterday as usual, and so I drive out to Poseyville which is where yesterday begins and ends. St. Francis cemetery is deserted except for two men working on a concrete pad near the chapel. I park on a gravel lane near my parents’ grave. I leave my phone in the car because the one person I want to talk to can’t be reached by phone or in any other way. Her grave is just in front of Mom and Dad’s. It is almost, but not quite, covered in grass. It seems strange for h

In the Catholic Church, today is the Memorial of Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr. She is pictured above with her breasts on a platter which I shall explain momentarily. Saint Agatha was being pursued by a Roman official whose name was Quintianus and who desparately wanted to marry her. Agatha did not want to marry Quintianus or any other man. She wanted to give her life to Christ and vowed to remain a virgin. Quintianus was sure he could get her to change her mind. He thr

Every day, I walk with a ghost. Actually, she is a holy spirit, but if I call her that, it may seem sacrilegious, so I’m giving her a nickname. The ghost has long, dark hair and mischievous eyes. She always wears the same thing, whatever the weather – leggings, a t-shirt with the name of a daycare on it, and a cream-colored sock hat with a pouf. She never shivers or sweats, which is irritating, but that’s a ghost for you. She never gets tired either, which is another ghostl

The Forest of Delusion is where we spend our days. We have four eyes between us yet I never meet your gaze. I ban you from my dreams at night in case you weigh them down. When you tiptoe past my thoughts by day you never make a sound. You stay out of sight and I’ll stay out of mind, and walking around this big blue ball we may never meet at all. But when we reach the tree line and walk into the sun, I will recognize you my long forgotten friend. So do forgive my rudeness, my

If rain was more valuable than the rarest of pearls, would you greet it with open arms, let it wake you up to the world? On Saturn, it rains diamonds. Look it up, it's true. And rain can be sad, pollution turns it blue. If the wind carried secrets, would you listen and promise not to tell? Would you lean in when it whispers, pay attention when it yells? If trees were historians, would you let them be your teachers, or would you stick to men in suits and ties and other fa

Dear Parents Everywhere, I no longer have young children, but once a mom, always a mom. Now that I don't have little ones to fret over, I worry about other people's children. I think too many children these days are living in a grown-up world they are not physically, emotionally or socially ready for. I have never believed that children need to be cocooned away from the world. If we wall them up in fortresses where they are never exposed to reality, they will never learn to

Dear Grieving People Everywhere, There are so many things I want to say to you. I don’t know if you are ready to hear them, but I’m going to say them anyway, because I am where you are now. Also, I have to say them because I am a person of many words, and when something happens, I always have to say a lot of words about it. Think of my words as a gift you didn’t expect and maybe didn’t want. You can keep them or pass them on, or roll your eyes and throw them away, but here t

My sister died and we had her funeral and the next day I moved into my mother-in-law’s house next door. I just kept packing and carrying...

I found today’s first USCCB reading from Jonah very insightful. Jonah is pissed because God did not punish the bad people of Ninevah. ...

We use titles to define the most important relationships in our lives – mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, sister, brother, aunt,...

Dear Sarge, You have always loved to frolic in bright, open spaces, so I know that your spirit is probably too busy rolling in some sunny...

I woke just before dawn and went out to the sunporch and opened the windows. It was dark and silent except for the rustle of leaves, but...

I like chipped coffee mugs and hounds with silky ears and smiling eyes. I like clouds, but only when they take up about one third of...

I am not a religious person in that I don’t believe that any one religion has all the answers to life’s questions. I believe that all...

While out walking in my neighborhood this morning, I passed a house with a large shady back yard. For many years, an old dog lived at...

If you were a rabbit, I would hide carrots in the hedges. If you were a stray cat, I would leave tuna on the porch. If you were a tiny...

Anyone who has scrolled through social media or read the news this week has probably encountered some of the controversy surrounding a...

In the small town where I grew up in the 1960’s and 70’s, there was only one public park. It had all the usual dangerous playground...

My dad burst into the world on the 4th of July in the bedroom of a farmhouse surrounded by cornfields in the United States of America. ...