- Claudia (Ragamuffin Diva) called out of the blue

- We raised $300 at our yard sale for low-income familes at Eden and Cate’s school

- we were able to helpsome friends get through a tough spot

-Charlie Wear asked to publish something from my blog in Next Wave

- I met my neighbor Annie, she of the beautiful garden

- Josh’s dad, Vern, came over and scoped out our basement to help us figure out if we can put in an apartment

- Paul brought me flowers

1. live in New York city for at least 3 months
2. own a motorcylce
3. live in Europe
4. work in an orphanage in Africia
5. be present at a death/passing
6. be a spiritual director
7. publish a book or show my art
8. build a welcoming kitchen
9. keynote at a national level gathering
10. write a regular column in a magazine
11. live with a beautiful shrine-y garden
12. learn to bake bread well
13. have a lifelong yoga practice
14. learn at least one kind of dance
15. dred my hair
16. see my children outlive me
17. skinnydip
18. be present at my parent’s death/passing
19. be at peace in my own skin for more than two weeks at at time
20. inspire someone
21. change the course of one at-risk family for the … {read more…}

Tracey: Why do we have to die?
Nate: To make life valuable.
-Six Feet Under, Season One Finale

I have been thinking about death a lot lately. In part, this is because I’ve been obsessively watching the library’s copy of Six Feet Under, Season One. Of course, there is also my ailing and demented Grandmother nearing the end of her life on this earth. Then again, there is my neighbor three doors down who seems to have death all round her right now – a father in the emergency room, a co-worker with a suicidal brother, a friend with a father gunned downed by police. But mostly I’ve been hanging out with death because of George.

Four … {read more…}

So, my Grandmother called yesterday and she sounded all chipper and clear on the answering machine. When I called her back she was as happy-go-lucky as you can imagine, telling me all about how she’d finally gotten a good night’s sleep and how she was going to upgrade her walker to a newer, spiffier model. After a awhile we had this exchange.

“Grandma, are you being nice to Aunt Judy?”

“Well not when I’m demented! Today is a good day and I’m not demented so I told her I was sorry. I guess I gave her a bad time on Monday but today I’m fine.That’s what it means, dementia. It’s quite complicated. I mean, when you are demented you don’t really know … {read more…}

Up, Chuck!

I’ve had the stomach flu for the past three days. I do not recommend throwing up bean burritos. When I had any-time sickness with my pregnancies I kept a list on the fridge of which foods were easiest to get back up. If you are in danger of worshipping at the porcelain bowl, I recommend that you avoid the entire hot cereal family. Also, chicken corn chowder is not recommended.

When I Really Hate Religion

My grandmother is dying. She’s 82 and a recent stroke-like episode has sent her dementia into full swing. She’s never been a proper Christian. She’s got some distant Native American blood (Blackfoot, I think) and she’s always been pretty connected to the spiritual pull of the … {read more…}

I am having one of those rage-y sorts of days…and no, it’s not “that time of the month.” (Please! Don’t be so cliché!) I started getting pissed after dinner last night and I was pissed again by 8am this morning.

What’s that about?

My therapist says that anger is a secondary emotion. Most the time when she says that I want to throw a book at her head. But then, later, when I’m not paying $50 an hour, I try to figure it out. What she means is that anger points the way to something else — towards some big picture item that is making you nuts, unbalanced, or at least definitely un-shalom like.

Right now, my secondary emotion is totally … {read more…}