We go out for lunch at a favourite place where they serve an Indian food buffet. Three young people come in, while we’re feasting on things like butter chicken, vegetable korma, and naan bread, and sit at the table behind me. Unable to keep from overhearing their conversation about profs and grades and assignments, we
From a distance the resemblance is striking. The shape of her face, the softness of her neck, the way she turns her head to speak to her companion. Occasionally I dream about her—not often, but when I do I wake wrapped in the most bitter sweetness. Closer now, and it’s her smiling almond-shaped eyes and
We take a walk in my favourite park—the one where ghosts of boys playing baseball and girls wrapped in pink toddle in and out of a building that’s no longer there. Gerry’s been sick and to combat cabin fever we drive across town to the park rather than down the hill to church. Worship looks
One year ago today I posted this photo on social media with these words: “I’ve been at this pretty much all day and haven't made it past the second page. Whose idea was it for me to write another book anyway?” I was buried in revisions of The Presence of Absence: A Story About Busyness, Brokenness, and
It snows again. The white is startling and pretty. It’s not as lovely as it was a couple of months ago because we’re kind of sick of it by now, but it makes for a good day to hunker down. I’m grateful for the opportunity. Gerry has a man cold, so he’s been hunkering for
I have a few questions. How . . . ? Is it . . . ? What . . . ? I scratch them on a page in my journal. One after another; they keep coming. Through writing comes understanding. Not answers but illumination. I scribble prayer. (I wonder: is it okay to use such
We’re out and about on a sunshiny mid-February afternoon, going about our business and enjoying one another’s company, when we encounter a man who has fallen on the ice. He’s injured—not seriously—but an ambulance has been called. We’re shaken and choose not to go for a walk in this icy area. Subdued. Each sitting with our