On Wind and Trees

Several days ago, friends visited our mountain home Vanaprastha. While admiring views of Virginia’s Three Ridges Wilderness area and Rockfish Valley, they expressed concern about the tall trees near the house being subject to wind. Curious about the relationship...

Suffering Well

As a child, sometimes I wished that God would send me a lifetime of suffering all at once, a few seconds of horrible pain, and then I’d be happy for the rest of my life. That amount of pain would probably have killed me. And had I survived, I probably would not have...

Self-Esteem

1991, carpooling 2 bunheads to after school ballet class: “Hey Jessica, did the self-esteem guy come to your class today?” “Yeah, Vanessa, it was SO funny! The guy picked Kelly to sit on a chair and told her to sit or stand depending on how she felt, then he said you...

Grandfather’s Udder Wisdom

The only time I spent alone with him, my grandfather talked about cows’ udders. “You got to take care of cows,” Grampy told me, sitting in his worn rocking chair in Grammy’s kitchen, slurping his usual milk-and-sugared-tea, rubbing his wooden leg, a phantom of one...