Risk of Reaction
A heavy blanket of fatigue wrapped around me as I read into the evening. We’d spent the afternoon running errands, so my weariness did not surprise. But then came the head and body aches. At 8 o’clock, Keith asked, “Do you want to watch a movie or something...
The opposite of certainty
While the remnants of hurricane Laura soaked the forest on Saturday morning, I sipped green tea and finished Janine Urbaniak Reid’s memoir The Opposite of Certainty. Reading about her brush with alcohol abuse in her teens and early twenties, I thought about the...
A timely parable
After letting the dogs out, I poured a morning cup of coffee and sat in the great room, iPad in my lap. First, I checked the weather then scanned social media—Instagram, Twitter, Facebook—sorted email, and read the headlines. It’s hard not to get discouraged by...
Four snippets from Raindrops keep falling on my head*
Snippet #1: Those raindrops are falling on my head, they keep falling… At night, I draw the covers under my chin, snuggling against the chill and steady patter. Rain in August is a welcome respite. But then the days dawn dark and damp. Snippet #2: So I just...
Five Finger Exercises
I pushed the front latch buttons with my thumbs, lifted the lid of the case with my middle fingers, and gazed starry-eyed at my shiny new flute. “Try it out,” said Joe, Charlottesville’s Music & Arts retail manager. I attached the foot to the body then slid the...






