When I was a freshman in high school, I convinced my friend Leslie, a cool girl who played the cello, to drive me to school in exchange for gas money. Leslie had a crappy blue Chevette and, far more importantly, a copy of 1965’s Rubber Soul, arguably the best album ever made by The Beatles. […]
Survival is insufficient. ~Emily St. John Mandel, by way of Star Trek: Voyager When I was young, my brother Ian and I had a secret lair and a code for entry. Our den was Ian’s closet, where we would sometimes pile up our blankets and pillows to create a cozy sleeping fort. Some […]
While the angels are singing his praises in a blaze of glory Mary stays behind and starts cleaning up the place. ~Patty Griffin, Mary The year I studied abroad, my friends and I took a long weekend trip to the Vatican very close to Christmas. Various cardinals held public sermons throughout the day and […]
Once, at a conference, someone asked novelist Nora Roberts how she juggled being a writer and a mother. She wisely answered that the key to juggling is knowing that some of the balls in the air are made of plastic and some are made of glass. “… If you drop a plastic ball, it bounces, […]
We have a picture on our fridge of the day Izzie turned five. She’s rocking a sequined gown and glittering tiara, her dazzling smile and sparkling eyes exuding confidence and sass. I remember someone that day remarked, “You look like a Disney Princess!” To which my daughter tossed her hair and retorted, “I’m not a […]
When I was in high school in the late 1980’s, I waited tables at the Cantuckee Diner just off the interstate. The diner sported a dented, two-for-a-quarter jukebox that the staff called The Outlaw. The Outlaw offered the hits of Waylon, Willie, Johnny, Tanya, Merle, and Dolly. Every shift, I would slide a quarter from […]
