The All-American

The All-American

Some of my favorite middle school memories are bicycling to the baseball diamond and keeping score for my cousin’s team. It was a boy’s team, of course. It was the 1970s. No option for girls to play in my small Michigan town. But this was the closest I could get to...
The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip

The Extraordinary Deaths of Mrs. Kip

During the last few days of my mother’s life, she was in a hospice facility which proved to be the best possible place she could have been for receiving care, comfort, and compassion.  My sister and I stayed with her—even overnight—for four days straight. We...
Almost Home

Almost Home

In Michigan during World War II, my grandfather and his brother had to cease selling automobiles at the car dealership they’d built from the ground up since 1926. All consumer cars, trucks, and parts production halted from February 1942 to October 1945.  Even...
Everything is Just Beginning

Everything is Just Beginning

Years ago, when I taught high school art, I wanted students to embrace the process of creating art and enjoy the journey. That’s why I graded their steps along the way, not just the end-product. My motto was: Creating a Product without the Process is like having the...
Where Grace Appears

Where Grace Appears

Like millions of other readers, the first time I read Little Women, I fell in love—with everybody. Marmee, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. And of course Theodore Laurence, AKA Laurie (even though we shared the same name; I was Laurie back then). That was 8th grade. However,...

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