Magical Memoir Moments

Pansies pushing up out of dead leaves.

The Crucible of Winter: What Has It Taught You?

  “Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible.” — Katherine May I have been through a very painful winter. Have you too? Today, turning the calendar page today to March 1 felt liberating.  Then a walk in balmy, windy, air, listening to birds, looking for crocuses and pansies, admiring the…

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Poet Marilyn Nelson, Wikipedia photo.

What Keeps Me Standing: The Wisdom of Black Grandmothers

In the midst of both a pandemic and an anti-racist social justice movement in our country, I find myself, as a white person, a mother, grandmother, and now a caregiver, searching for the wisdom of black grandmothers. I believe black women may be the most resilient people in the world and that their strength gives…

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The Washington Monument as seen from under the Museum of African American HistoryThe

The Means of Saving Us: One Good, Sacred, Memory

We live in partisan times in America. Depending on where we stand politically, we see different problems, but everyone seems to agree we have problems. Serious problems. We yearn for peace. Yet peace is not possible without “liberty and justice for all.” Or, to use the framework that John Paul Lederach teaches, derived from Psalm…

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Evrething Will Be OK. May 27, 2020. Owen William Showalter, Age 9

In Our Dark Night: Mother Julian’s Words and a Grandson’s Drawing

It’s hard to write tonight. The news is so distressing. George Floyd’s tragic death is the tip of the spear.  We should all be coming together to fight the Corona virus — and the other viruses of injustice, racism, and inequality. We need wise leaders. We need change. Will it happen? Despair comes more easily…

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Preparing Care Package #1

Care Packages for Grandchildren: Creativity While Quarantined

What’s a Grandma to do? When hugs are forbidden? Stores are closed? And she’s told “elders” like her must stay home? She asks her friends on Facebook, of course. “What can I do to stay connected when all I have are things around the house?” I asked. You wouldn’t believe how many GREAT ideas other…

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The whole hummingbird!

A Broken-Winged Bird: Life in the Time of the Coronavirus

All winter long I gazed sorrowfully at the wooden hummingbird that hung from the window ledge. The left wing was missing! Often, looking at the sad sight, I recalled the famous Langston Hughes poem, “Dreams:” Hold fast to dreams For if dreams die Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams…

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My Dear God: How I Feel About Writing Another Book

 Writing books is hard work. After writing, revising, publishing, and touring with a memoir, 2011-2014, I said I didn’t think I wanted to write another book. The only exception would be if I felt called again. When my friend Marilyn McEntyre asked if I would join her and others on a panel discussion at the…

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“Have a Good Time with Your Friends:” A Granddaughter Milestone on the Brink

She’s two and a half and heading full speed toward three years old. She’s on the brink of everything. Just before Christmas, she helped put up lights and pine garland on her porch. She couldn’t stop saying her favorite new word: “energy!” By the time she arrived at our house for the Christmas holiday, Lydia…

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We used to get great cuddle pictures. Now it's really hard to get three kids to look up and smile for the camera.

New Year’s Resolutions 2020

Christmas came. Christmas was wonderful, overflowing with “energies” (granddaughter Lydia’s latest word). Christmas, and 2019, are now history. When the house gets quiet again, my spirit searches for poetry. “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” –Augustine of Hippo Here on this…

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What do you think she calls him?

Your Grandparent Name: A Twenty-first Century Choice

What is one of the oldest jokes about becoming a grandparent? “I don’t mind being a grandma, but I’m not sure about sleeping with a grandpa!” Getting used to the role of grandparent takes time, but is a universal experience. Getting used to the name, these days, is much more culturally variable. Depending on how…

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