What can burst the iron bands affixed around the heart, the bands constricting, suffocating, keeping the heart from breaking due to the sadness of grief? According to “Tale no.1” – the first story in the folktale collection of the Brothers Grimm published in 1812 – also known as “The Frog Prince”, the heart is set free […]
Letter: They’re Together Now
October 23, five years ago today. A journey most difficult to make. To enter these hedges where broken hearts pour out their grief. To find a place to bury a treasure beyond price. Within the heart-shaped hedges of Lullaby Land are the gravesites of infants and children. A flagstone path leads into the small, perfectly […]
Letter: The Beautiful Sound of Silence
As I wandered aimlessly the trail I happened to look up and at that moment there was caught – as a spider hopes to capture flying insects passing through – the spider and its web itself, caught by the rays of the sun. What incredibly intricate spider silk strands – so symmetrical, appearing so fragile […]
Letter: “Cherish Where You Are”
‘Do you have time for me to tell you a story?’ The squirrel tented its fingers as an executive might at a job interview. ‘You’re probably wondering why I’m here, sitting under your tree, in your forest by your lake.’ No reaction. No movement. The squirrel’s eyes never left my face. So, I poured out […]
Letter: Searching for Beauty
“Do we get a prize for hiking this trail?” I was exhausted. We were approaching the crest of the ridge and the trail was beyond steep. It didn’t help of course that this was my first foray into the wilderness in a long, long time. The last few years my wife and I had been […]
Letter: Pondering
Any more of an early morning I can be found pondering, my hands folded upon which rests my chin, as in this portrait of my father, the wisps of his whiskers forming a wreath around his seafaring-like weathered and wrinkled skin. Furrowed brow and wisdom lines, etched and crinkled, wander away across his face and […]
Letter: When We’re Lost
What had begun as a crystal clear early morning with stars twinkling in the still dark sky, and as red and white bow lights flashed on the other rowing shells moved silently on the dark surface of the water, the morning dissolved into a thick and impenetrable fog. And what had begun so idealistically, romantically, […]
Letter: A Lesson from the Autumn Leaves
My favorite season of the year to row is Autumn. Sometimes with others, most often alone. Boat traffic on the lake is minimal; the trees along the shoreline are resplendent in color; not a sound is heard but the rhythmic splash of the oars and my labored breathing; and eventually the green-become-red and yellow leaves […]
Letter: We Rowed Together
For most people, no doubt the vast majority, World River Day, the fourth Sunday of every September, passed by as unnoticed as the headwaters of a quiet stream slipped by in a forest no one was frequenting anyway. But what a metaphor for life. Did my grandson want to watch from the dock as I […]