In Grief’s Waiting Room

Our Entryway. Memorial to Sergeant Sean Michael Lagrand Third Marine Air Wing, Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting. July 13, 1981-September 25, 2006 Remembering Sean  This Memorial Day morning, I hear my husband sniffle. I look over, sure I know…but I ask, anyway, as I wrap my arms around him and his blue terry robe: “What is […]


Robe Knots, Fresh Turkeys, and Evangelism

Cadence, Me, and My Unknotted Robe Belt. July, 2011.  Dodging the E-Word. Again.I’m here today with a pair of public service announcements: First: Never, ever, tie a knot in the belt of your bathrobe. Do the once-over as if you’re about to tie your shoelaces, sure. But don’t cinch it down into a knot. One morning […]


Bears, Mamas, and Mama Bears

It Was February. Bears Hibernate in February.  Love, Claws, and Flying Children “We were tent camping in Yosemite,” Amy told us, sharing a great story in her inimitable style. “And I woke up in the middle of the night to this shuffling sound, along with this snuffling sound, and I knew–I just KNEW–that a bear […]


Dreaming up Delights

Me, Dad, Mercedes.  July 15, 2012. Roll the ReelsSaturday night I dreamed up one long sequence of lovely things. Rich and I traveled to some new exotic tropical place, wriggling toes into warm peach sand and sighing together with the sun as the horizon swallowed it. I sat in an auditorium filled with hundreds and […]


Independence Day

Fireworks over the Pacific Ocean. July 4, 2010. Set Free!Picnics, parades, and potato salad, fireworks and family. It must be the Fourth of July. Our niece, Vaite, visiting from her home in Tahiti, wrote:  July 4th is a great celebration day, to see people’s love for America it’s amazing …  Amazing. I never thought of […]