“Do you think we could find my wedding dress?” My wife of 50 years married thought it would be fun to see if it still fit, if, of course, we could even find it after all these years. She thought sure the dress had survived the fire when our home was destroyed so long ago […]
Letter: An Ordinary Wall
Our daughter is an artist. At Christmas, gifts to me are encased in brown wrapping paper upon which are her free-hand sketches of life as she sees me living it. It is the Dutch girl (my wife), that married Goofy (that’s me), that resulted in a granddaughter (one of 10 grandchildren) who hangs out with […]
Letter: Almost Heaven
Far out over the valley below where the old barn stood on the hill, the terminus of the irrigation ditch filled with water that provided nourishment for the cows was lost in the haze of the setting sun. It was one of our favorite outings, to take country roads just to see where they led. […]
Letter: To Be Again What One Once Was
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 […]