How to Sort in the Third Stage of Life
The basement in my dream was large, windowless, and poorly lit. I wore a white cable-knit sweater from my teen years. The sweater became increasingly dirty as I sorted through years of detritus. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung posited that dream houses represent the...
A Heartfelt Message to Melinda French Gates
This is a heartfelt message to my former student Melinda French Gates. Praying for Marriages Last week, visiting family members asked me to pray for their dear neighbors, who are having marital problems. They have two young children. “Certainly,” I said. “Keith and...
She was my mother, she is a mother, she is me
She was my mother. In quick succession, Gayle Greene suffers the loss of her beloved aunt and mother. She’s the last of her family; her only sibling and her father are also deceased. Sifting through photographs and belongings left behind, she grieves her losses,...
The Atheist and the Bear, an old story
An Atheist ponders non-belief
Broken by the blessings of vaccination and faith
I propped the pillows on our bed, covered myself with a throw blanket, and donned my reading glasses. The nurse who’d administered our second Covid-19 vaccination had said many who have little reaction to the first shot reacted to the second. Despite the fact that...
A little like Tom Sawyer
“You’ll really like leaf-blowing,” I said to our three sons this past weekend. “There’re lots of leaves to rake and blow out of the meadow and road ditch, so each of you will get a turn.” I grinned, thinking about the famous “fence-painting” scene in Mark...