I was in choirs when I was a kid. I loved to sing, and I thought I was pretty good at it. Along with my cousins or youth group friends, I’d even perform “Special Music” (a phenomenon of 1990s West Michigan church culture) at night services, and was always...
Upon the death of our trees, I learn the Hebrew word for orchard is paradise I’ve grown up watching my father eat apples straight off the trees. His mouth wide, he’d take one giant bite, tearing the skin, exposing the belly, carving out one side of the...
It took me awhile to enjoy rollercoasters. I was a nervous, cautious kid, not one to take risks — and it wasn’t until high school that I remember being talked into venturing onto a rollercoaster and walking off the platform with a smile on face. My...
Earlier this summer my cousin, Sara, and I sat on my aunt’s couch with my 86 year-old grandmother between us. We asked her questions and then listened as she talked about her life growing up on Seneca Street as the eighth of ten children, about playing...
It was just a few minutes after I had shooed the boys outside when I found them – all three – peering down into a trash can that had been dragged into the garage. The teamwork and silence were a clue that this scene needed further investigating. At the bottom...
In honor of the final weeks of summer, here’s a piece by a good friend and fellow teacher-writer, Jen Haberling. Enjoy! ~ I didn’t know then how wise this woman was. I didn’t realize how much her influence would permeate my own mothering. Her...
A couple of years ago we purchased my husband’s childhood home from his parents. I love the sprawling backyard that overlooks a farm – waking to the pink light of the sun rising over the field, the distant sound of a tractor, the wild turkey that pecks and scurries...
Definition: (Adjective) At an equal distance from the extremities of something Synonyms: Center or Midst, suggesting that a person or thing is closely surrounded or encompassed on all sides, especially by that which is thick or dense; such as the midst of a...
“We’re all just walking each other home.” — Ram Dass Nestled back in the corner of my basement storage room are boxes of letters. Letters my cousin and I wrote back and forth weekly as children. Letters from camp counselors and cabin...