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memoir

memoirspirituality

Mighty Deeds

“There’s a lot of down time between the mighty deeds of God.” I heard myself saying this to my friend Sharon over pancakes yesterday. We were talking about her church’s efforts to discern where God is taking them next. They were weathering some discouraging developments…
mm
September 20, 2014
memoirreview

The Big Book of What She Really Thinks

I have loved Roz Chast’s cartoons since one of my college friends introduced me back in the 1980s to Chast’s quietly twisted portrayals of ordinary neuroses and domestic absurdities. Chast specializes in boring people, living room couches, potted plants—yet somehow she cuts life on the…
mm
August 23, 2014
memoirspirituality

Small Things

Kindness may seem a weak virtue, hardly suited for battling the forces of darkness. For that battle, it’s true, one needs bigger artillery as well: courage, peacemaking, sacrifice, love, justice built into the architecture of larger systems. I do notice, however, that kindness is one…
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May 31, 2014
liturgical yearmemoirspirituality

Abide with Me

The year wanes in darkness, at least here in Michigan. Much snow and ice this year. It’s hard not to brood, especially after a year that brought so much sorrow and loss in my circle of acquaintance. A dear colleague, dying suddenly and too young…
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December 28, 2013
memoir

“Danger: You Could Die Here in Paradise”

I know that important things have been happening in the news this week, but I don’t care because: I’m in Hawaii. Been here for almost two weeks with my wonderful partner, Ron, celebrating 25 years of marriage. We are giving ourselves a much-needed and extravagant…
mm
June 29, 2013
memoirspirituality

Unfinished Business

I suppose I have simply gotten used to unfinished business. As more academic years slide past and pile up behind me, I have less a sense of closure in May than a sense of constant motion. Even this year, when two of my own children…
mm
May 18, 2013
liturgical yearmemoirUncategorized

February Blahs

If for some reason you wish to study that peculiar state of human existence called “the blahs,” I suggest you begin in the third week of February in Michigan. It’s been winter for as long as we can remember here, and we still have a…
mm
February 23, 2013
memoir

House Blessing

This week we had good news: a buyer for my parents’ home, after only thirty days on the market. A miracle. Mom signed the purchase agreement on Tuesday, and we’ll close by the end of the month. So now I must say good-bye to my…
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January 12, 2013
memoir

Here’s What’s Cookin’

If the kitchen was command central of her household, then these recipes, I realized, were the mission logs. What a jumble of memory among those 3×5 index cards! I planned to thumb through them just to make sure I retrieved any recipes I especially liked,…
mm
August 11, 2012