I was born wall-eyed! Well, for those of you who don’t know, wall-eyed is the opposite of being crossed-eyed.  I needed three operations to fix my eyes. I can still remember the third operation quite clearly. It happened right after my father’s construction company folded.   Since Father or Mother weren’t bringing in a paycheck, I became an “indigent” case.   Before Father had lost his company, he’d been able to afford one of the best doctors in the country and this doctor h

Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated. -- Terry Tempest Williams I dreamed about prison again. I hate dreaming about prison. The last time I dreamed of prison I woke up and immediately started crying. In the dream, I was sentenced for years and I would only be able to see my

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...

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

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...

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...

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

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...

Using Granny’s ancient knife -- the handle worn thin and the blade sharp as a razor -- I sliced big ruby tomatoes. Drops of red juice and...

On a cold weekday morning in late winter, I meditated imperfectly leading to a wondrous moment of play, the effects of which nestled down...

Memory is a strange thing. When I was 5 years old, I had surgery on the muscles behind my eyes. All I remember from the day before the...

Mellow, easygoing, that’s how Jamie’s friends and family described him. Some tied it to his frequent pot smoking. Others linked it to his...

It is a mild winter day in Buenos Aires, August of 1990, and my uncle Cacho, dark eyes convivial, is introducing me to an old friend in...

If the Lagina brothers would visit me in the dream world, I could show them right where to dig on Oak Island because I’ve discovered that...

Much of the Latine identity today comes from past trauma. History reminds us of the colonization of the land belonging to Indigenous...

(Content warning: this story contains sensitive material related to child sexual abuse, rape. Please read at your own discretion.) At the...