Grandfamilies: How to Ditch Works-Based Love

Telegraphing Love by the Armful. Rich and Grandlittle Carly. August 2008. When your family members know you love them for who they are instead of what they do, you give them an enduring gift that will serve them well in tough times. And if your current phase of family life entails disciplining a family member, this all-in love […]


What My Tomato Taught Me

My Black Cherry tomato and my black labrador retriever, JD. My tomato plant looks big and busy if you take a quick glance–the vines keep getting longer and the blooms keep coming. But but but, if you look closely at the plant, you notice that the central vines don’t look so good. They’re pale, yellowed, dried […]


When Holidays Hurt: Mother’s Day Edition

  So how was your Mother’s Day? Well, my mom and my daughter are both in the hospital, so . . . . My friend’s voice faded to nothing. Nothing. Like the postmark on an envelope that never was mailed.  Another friend’s mother died about 10 days before Mother’s Day. And there’s another friend whose son […]


Come as You Are!

Just as You Are. Right Now. Even if Your Sweater is Crooked.  Humbled, not DiscouragedA passage in my Bible struck me as I read it a few days ago. I’ve read this passage before, but on this occasion it leaped off the page. “Don’t wait until you’re ready,” I heard.  I’m sharing the passage here […]


Deer Season

Deer, in Quilt-Colored Meadow.  Friends, Good Friday steals my words. I offer you this piece instead.  UngulatesI see them most mornings, these days. Driving along our canyon road as it finds a way through the chaparral forest, I’ll spot the flick of a white tail beneath the oak canopy, or the twitch of a rabbit-shaped […]