the autoimmune hippie.

Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. . . Practice resurrection. – Wendell Berry

Jesus

  • old churches and stained glass and missing my people.

    This morning, one of my favorite Facebook pages, Unvirtuous Abbey, posted this: And it really got me thinking – because I have such an abiding love for old churches and beautiful stained glass. I stopped and took a look through some of my albums I haven’t seen in awhile and found some beautiful memories. We… Read more

  • rich and me and aidan and bailey.

    Today I’m going to tell a part of my story that I’ve never written before – and I don’t know why. It changed so much of my life – and I’ve needed to share it for so long – but I was never able to.  Until now. I’m telling it today of all days because… Read more

  • ordinary blessings. . . aren’t

    In Joan Didion’s memoir, Blue Nights, about her daughter Quintana’s life and death, she wrote of toasting Quintana and her new husband, Gerry, on their wedding day, six months before the illness that would ultimately claim Quintana’s life began, saying: We wished them happiness, we wished them health, we wished them love and luck and beautiful… Read more

  • riding out a new storm.

    And after the storm,I run and run as the rains comeAnd I look up, I look up,on my knees and out of luck,I look up. Night has always pushed up dayYou must know life to see decayBut I won’t rot, I won’t rotNot this mind and not this heart,I won’t rot. And I took you… Read more

  • sunday blessings.

    The world will break your heart ten ways to Sunday. That’s guaranteed. I can’t begin to explain that. Or the craziness inside myself and everyone else. But guess what? Sunday’s my favorite day again. I think of what everyone did for me, and I feel like a very lucky guy. — Matthew Quick, Silver Linings… Read more

  • get busy.

    Like everyone else, I was just shocked and heartbroken to learn of the passing of Chadwick Boseman when his family shared the news on Friday evening. He was only 43 and had chosen to keep his cancer battle private so it was totally unexpected. A few hours after I saw the news, this well-timed and… Read more

  • an uncool love list.

    Happy Early Thursday, y’all! So, it’s been a bit since I’ve posted due to: The sinus plague. Even my Sara Bug got sick – and that hasn’t happened in a very long time. Yuck.  Working on a major project. I have gone through my writer’s notebooks from the past several years, extracting my notes I’ve… Read more

  • facing the hard times of chronic illness. and getting back up.

    What. A. Week. It’s seen two hospital trips – the GI bleed on Monday, then another on Wednesday for an infection in my hand. Like other infections I’ve dealt with, that started with a minor scrape on my hand on a hinge in a cabinet. I immediately cleaned and bandaged the wound – but it… Read more

  • the blue nights and the heavy things.

    Like many female writers my age, I adore Joan Didion. I don’t remember a world without her in it. Pictured above is my “lucky writing necklace” with her well-known packing list from her essay, “The White Album,” one of many essays that shaped me, published the year I was born. She’s forever the Queen in… Read more

  • strong like my grandmothers.

    Lately, when I’m really having a good COVID-19 freak out – and when I really read the latest Scary Things sometimes I do – I have learned to take a moment of pause and remember one of the most fabulous ladies I’ve ever known, my dear Grandmother’s mother, my great Grandmother Humphries. She was sweet… Read more