The Ordinary Tree 6:25 am and we sit in the chapel bleary eyed with sleep, psalm after psalm and outside the open window with the icons perched precariously is a tree. The leaves warrant not more than a passing glance – just plain old green with a few crab apples, not even good for flinging, … Continue reading
You wouldn’t know the complex trail of seeds within, a whole universe hidden, snug and safe within a waxy sheen of red. You couldn’t tell the days of waiting, the hours of silence, the minutes of longing as each seed burst into life, and then began the painstaking process of becoming a full seed. You … Continue reading
head pounding, neck aching, radio blaring the ride home is a numb blur of grays and browns, whizzing by monotonous sounds sliding into one another and as I take a breath, I’m parked in the drive and – how did that happen?? slow, savor, see the gifts. slow and notice breath: my own miraculous inhale … Continue reading
Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord! Words week after week, sometimes sung, and usually with hands up, down and across – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Those words ring out today, hundreds of voices proclaiming and waving palms, re-living that day. We are that crowd, hungry for Someone and … Continue reading
C’mon, Mommy! My limbs, awkward and unused, lacking a youthful litheness I once took for granted, gently obey. I balance tippy toe, and the bike wobbling underneath, patiently waits for me to settle. My hands grip the handlebars and suddenly it’s my fifteen year old hands holding tight and I’m off to visit Grandma Jeanne’s. … Continue reading
The house itself sighs into the quiet. Appliances cease their whirring, tumbling, cleansing, their constant working finally at a rest. Carpets worn from the traffic of little feet running, kneeling, playing a family in motion, now lie proudly displaying criss-crossing vacuum lines. Bunk bed holds curiosity and kindness, two little bodies snuggled together, while bins … Continue reading
I imagine “VICTORY!” a runner worn by the effort, yet doggedly crossing the finish line, the ribbon breaking and arms waving in triumph, confetti and cheers littering the air. It’s not so easy to see “VICTORY!” when the same bills come month after month and the same dishes fill the sink day after day, when … Continue reading
what counts as a miracle these days? waking up is so ordinary blinking, groggy, blurry can’t see the alarm clock, or even to find my glasses on the nightstand. every morning the same – not seeing. perhaps the miracle is the fix. sixty odd years of blinking. groggy, blurry and knowing the snooze button by … Continue reading
The unnatural pink glow from your lava lamp is now the hue in which I see you at night, all snuggled with your brother, the two of you atop ringlets of purple, swirls on the comforter that you chose last year from Target. Your fairy pi’s tossed carelessly over the edge of the bunk … Continue reading
To linger over words is to linger over worlds. Sitting at the table, shafts of early sun across my back warm and drowsy, with lemon-lime seltzer bubbles performing circus-like tricks in my glass and a bowl of fresh nearby – homemade yogurt, berries of blue, purple red and pink, I linger over the morning paper. … Continue reading
