I first met Michael in a dog park in Philadelphia while on my Off the Leash journey in July of 2011. It was early on. Libby and I were still getting our sea legs under us, a bit tentative. The vibe in each city, each park, every situation felt different. Michael was cool. He’s a soft-spoken guy, cute, young enough to be one of my sons. He was at the dog park with Frank, his client dog that day. Turns out Michael was a dog walker. We quickly fell in, with … [Read more...]
Own Your Calling
The man who braved my ice-covered driveway was so quiet the dogs didn’t bark. Shoveling it had become an exercise in futility in the punishing cycle of snow, sub-zero cold, followed by more snow, which has characterized our St. Louis winter. Perhaps the snow muffled the sound of his footsteps, because I didn’t notice either, that someone had come and gone, leaving a large manilla envelope outside my door. Or maybe I was just preoccupied. I was writing a eulogy, on … [Read more...]
Make Peace With Your Momma
Discovering the cache of Kodak slides in the basement could have made me feel bad or guilty or filled with regret. Instead, I laughed. I threw back my head and laughed out loud, like l-a-u-g-h-i-n-g out loud, spelled out. Then I said to no one except the cobwebs, “Okay, Mom. You’re in.” I had noticed the honey-colored wooden box on my cluttered work bench, amongst the rusty channel locks, duct tape and socket wrenches, laying where they were dropped by careless kids … [Read more...]
He Gave Me Shelter
Social media being the thing we often love to hate, Facebook did serve a purpose in delivering news this week that a good friend of our family had passed away suddenly in Winston-Salem. My daughter in Memphis sent around the news to my now far flung brood and we took turns emailogizing our friend David. While their family begins the slow, unwelcome process of figuring out how life will be without a husband, father, grandfather, brother, I feel so blessed that I … [Read more...]
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