I stood on the playground squinting at the sky while shading my face like a salute. “Don’t stare at the sun,” my third grade teacher, Mrs. Rettig, warned. “Why not?” I asked. “It can blind you,” she said. Her reply startled me. I quickly dropped my head and squeezed my eyes shut. Under my eyelids, …
Bright lights, white lights assault her, not the muted pink and gentle darkness to which she was accustomed. Stark light and emptiness surround her, where always water buoyed and rocked her on all sides. Instinctively she wails, clenching her hands to her chest and pulling her knees up tightly. She gulps a huge breath and …
Am not. Are too. AM NOT! ARE TOO! If you have siblings, you probably remember this argument. We don’t like to be in the wrong, especially when accused by someone else; we stiffen in defense. When we figure out a truth about ourselves on our own, though, we’re forced to admit it or to lie …
My bedside table speaks volumes. The books discussed below stand on my bookshelf as mentors overlooking and nudging my growth and wonder of life. They each have underlined sentences or bracketed paragraphs with notes I’ve written. You may want to add one or some of them to your Christmas list or to someone else’s list. …
“Suzanne?” I’m loading coffee cups into the dishwasher and pretend not to hear. No follow-up voice speaks, so I rinse plates and slide them in slots below the cups. I’m returning pineapple to the fridge, when it comes again. “Suzanne.” “Yes, I’m here, I just want to finish cleaning up the kitchen. I’ll be right …