The Grief-Tested Car

Elaine and me, Quietly Happy Together. Tahiti. January, 2004. Reunions, Funerals, and Oil Lines My daughter Elaine, grandsons Cadence and Sawyer, her husband’s sister Crissy, and Crissy’s baby Annabelle land at LAX in ten hours and twenty-five minutes.  Not that I’m counting or anything.  The U.S. Navy sent my daughter and her family to Hawaii […]


The Grief-Tested Car

Elaine and me, Quietly Happy Together. Tahiti. January, 2004. Reunions, Funerals, and Oil Lines My daughter Elaine, grandsons Cadence and Sawyer, her husband’s sister Crissy, and Crissy’s baby Annabelle land at LAX in ten hours and twenty-five minutes.  Not that I’m counting or anything.  The U.S. Navy sent my daughter and her family to Hawaii […]


Gratitude Avalanche

Girl Selling an Apple to a Marine on a Train. Seoul. 1954. Photo by Rod Seiler.* Buried in Gifts At my physical therapy appointment, I chatted with Jun, a young man who works there, as he supervised my execution of a series of back-strengthening exercises. “Where are you from, Jun?” “Korea.” “My dad was there.” […]


Gratitude Avalanche

Girl Selling an Apple to a Marine on a Train. Seoul. 1954. Photo by Rod Seiler.* Buried in Gifts At my physical therapy appointment, I chatted with Jun, a young man who works there, as he supervised my execution of a series of back-strengthening exercises. “Where are you from, Jun?” “Korea.” “My dad was there.” […]


Birthday Presence

Sawyer, Big Brother Cadence, Mommy Elaine. Balboa Naval Hospital, San Diego. November 11, 2010 The Next Best Thing to Being There During a Skype session with my daughter Elaine and her family, I asked Cadence, who had just turned five, if he had fun on his birthday. “I did,” he said. “But Lala! Why weren’t […]