The Day That Will Forever Mark Our World
“Where are you?” the nurse asked, shining a flashlight into my husband’s eyes. “La Crosse, Wisconsin.” He winced. “The hospital.” “And why are you here?” “I have a brain tumor,” he said. I turned away—eyes stinging—and stared down at the wet street,
Don’t Judge…Lest You Have The Same Kind of Child
He was a painter with a lazy smile; she was a weaver who wore sweaters that would shrink to child-sized if caught out in the rain. They came into our grocery store at random times of day to buy our
An Unexpected Gift
There is a sense of detachment—almost timelessness—about our new homeplace in the Driftless Region of Wisconsin. I used to have stress dreams about Ebola, but now I have stress dreams about getting my wash in off the line before it
Embracing The Master’s Brush
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do one thing every day that scares you.” Well, this week I tackled painting for the first time in eleven years. We’re not talking Pablo Picasso painting—I’ve never been quite brave enough to tackle that—but the humdrum,
Marriage: Handle With Care
This week, I thought I became a widow. My husband and father-in-law were outside, jacking up the shipping container holding almost all our worldly possessions, when I heard a tremendous crash. I was in the midst of packing my closet, and
Conquering Fear In An Unsettled World
Our toddler began screaming the instant our minivan entered the darkened tunnel of the car wash. Her head thrashed from side to side, as she tried to anticipate the monster’s assault. Eyes welling, she was on the verge of really cutting
A Sign To A Woman Who’s Given Up On Signs
Somewhere between graduating from college and giving birth to my first child, many of my life’s questions were answered, and so I stopped searching the cosmos for signs. If the light turned green before I had to tap my brake, it
Embarking On “The Great Perhaps”
Packing this week for our move to a solar-powered farm in Wisconsin, I discovered a clear freezer bag stuffed with emails to and from my long-distance fiance; emails that I had printed off in my dorm room before I graduated
Our Big News
As I went through my closet today, culling dresses with yellow sequins and stiff crinoline slips and stacking them on a pile for Goodwill, I thought of that quote by the hippie transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, “Beware of all enterprises
Five Things I’m Determined To Do Differently With My Second-Born
This week, tending my newborn daughter in the small hours, I contemplated everything I did with my firstborn that I would like to do differently with my second. Miraculously, I only came up with a list of five. If you'd