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Mulling over mortality
On the way to preschool today, J asked, “Why did Reaghan have to die? I wish she was still alive.” “All animals have to die sometime – dogs, and even people”, I answered. “Lions don’t die – they kill other animals”, was his comeback. “Yes, even lions die when they get old.” “No! Lions only…
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The Anarchist Soccer Mom: Thinking the Unthinkable
The Anarchist Soccer Mom: Thinking the Unthinkable. I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother. I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. I am Jason Holmes’s mother. I am Jared Loughner’s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. And these boys—and their mothers—need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy,…
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Resonating with the words of Heschel…
OK, first order of business, my mother is doing better! My sister is doing a marvelous job of supporting her, as always, and she’s now safely back in the hospital, and no longer expressing active suicidal thoughts. And that’s a huge relief. It could easily be different tomorrow, but, one day at a time, right?…
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“I’m going to kill myself”
No, I’m not suicidal. But my mother is. It’s sort of socially acceptable to have your elderly parent call you and complain about chest pain, or back pain, or even severe dementia. But, having a severe mental illness and wanting to end your own life? Not so socially acceptable. My sister and I have been…
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Poverty, and other forms of ill-fate
I’ve been thinking a lot about being poor, since reading the post that struck me as so heartless yesterday. My parents were both educated, intelligent and talented, but neither of them lived up to their potential. As a result, my sister and I grew up with the support of MediCal (California’s version of Medicaid –…
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Life lived through podcasts…
I commute 45 minutes each way, to and from work. I have always been the half of the partnership, both in my first, and in my present marriage, that has the longer commute. This arrangement tends to work reasonably well, as I do enjoy driving. I know exactly the point along I-95 when I will…
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Blown away thinking about Vulnerability
Being away for a week, I had gotten behind on my podcast listening, so, this morning, during my commute, I out on the most recent broadcast of On Being with Krista Tippett, and heard the most amazing interview with Brene Brown: http://www.onbeing.org/blog/bren%C3%A9-brown-leaning-our-vulnerability-video/4903 There were so many points that were made that really resonated with me,…
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Widening circles
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/65395158″ params=”show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /] Quiet friend who has come so far, feel how your breathing makes more space around you. Let this darkness be a bell tower and you the bell. As you ring, what batters you becomes your strength. Move back and forth into the change. What is it like, such…
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Dwelling in our Sukkah
Sukkot – Festival of Booths, or Feast of Tabernacles, or Festival of Ingathering – is a Jewish holiday that R and I didn’t know about, or observe, until relatively recently (I’m old enough now that recent includes 10 years ago). We certainly started constructing and eating in a Sukkah the last few years that we…
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Toward Living Memory with Tiya Miles [On Being]
Toward Living Memory with Tiya Miles [On Being]. I love the program On Being with Krista Tippett, and I subscribe to the podcast (since the program is generally aired at 7am on Sunday mornings here in DC, I find it more convenient to listen at a later time (sometimes, I end up listening BEFORE airtime,…