It’s Thanksgiving at Auntie and Uncle’s house. Let’s all go around the table and say what we’re thankful for.  I’m on the periphery of a family group—the poor relation in more ways than one. “The wine,” I say when it’s my turn, and I mean it.  I’m thinking, when and where and how can I get some more of this here Balm of Gilead. I’m thinking, whatever it takes. Friday nights it’s all the same, week in week out.  Get depressed and fed up at home.  Might as well be a piece of f

A lifelong shelter volunteer finds redemption and purpose in rescuing unwanted animals. From Boston to Phoenix, through heartbreak, injury, and aging, they keep showing up—proving that compassion can outlast pain and that saving lives can also save your own.

My cousin Bill never learned to ride a bike or throw a rock or drive a car or drop a cannon ball into a lake. Instead he was strapped in...

I received the information by postcard: Sacred Journey to Greece and Turkey, April 20 th  to May 8, 2009.   Join this mystical journey of...

“We'll be Friends Forever, won't we, Pooh?” asked Piglet. “Even longer,” Pooh answered. A. A. Milne   My childhood and adolescence were...

Working as a Hospice Chaplain, there's never a dull moment. This is true for every patient who comes to our service. You pray, you say,...

Can music save a child from school bullies? In "Musical Underdog," Leah Mueller writes how an unwanted instrument helped two unpopular kids find their way.

In March of 2024 my husband and I took a trip of a lifetime – a 14-day tour of Greece. We made our reservations early and gleefully...

It was a quiet afternoon in Malang, the kind that seemed to stretch forever, like time was in no rush. The sun dipped just below the...

It is unclear whether memory gaps or lapses are primarily genetic. According to web sources, deteriorating memory conditions such as...

The forest seems intent on healing me. Take today, for instance. I was walking on the trail, taking notes on Shakespeare. My latest...

After I rescued Louis, friends said I’d find a new social life at the dog park. My puppy and I would be welcomed into a community of dog...

O, we don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan The whole state of Michigan, the whole state of Michigan We don't give a damn for...

Tension: On the Way to Robben Island by Keith A. Barker. 2013. Digital print.     The Catholic sister smiled kindly as she pushed the...

I was club hopping with my BFF, Jeannie, when I found myself, in deep trouble! This was the 1970’s and it was quite popular to go to a...

(content warning: this story includes references to domestic violence.) As a cradle Catholic, I always knew you needed your faith to do...

It’s been over a year of darkness, and I am longing for the light of a new dawn. The memories of what brought me to this place are so...

“A mother who has had a baby in the hospital should insist on keeping him with her 24 hours a day. Unwrap the baby, keep him in your bed,...

My father had moments of crystalline clarity in which he would say something that would stop me in my tracks, making me pause to catch my...

When Dad was dying the nurses bound his hands in yards of Ace bandages so he couldn’t pull out the life supports. The Buckeye Bomber, a...