What cruel twist of fate would offer up sight following a catastrophic wounding of my eye, and then take it away? Seven weeks after saving my eye and regaining vision, a shadow began at the upper left corner and ate away at the light, inexorably slipping down and across vision like a total eclipse of the sun. This can’t be happening, I thought. I’m merely tired, and need to rest. Seven weeks ago I was sightless, but now – or before the eclipse began – I was actually seeing across our beloved river to the mountains beyond, if a bit blurrily. I was grateful. In awe of a body’s ability … [Read more...]
Razed By Lions – Laura’s TEDx Talk
Razed by Lions – Laura’s TEDx Talk is live! Please share this inspirational, informative talk about transcending trauma with your constituency, family and friends. 42 million adults in the United States today live with the aftermath of personal trauma. They may, or may not, talk about it. This will offer them hope. Live from the TED stage … [Read more...]
My Husband, the New York Cabbie.
To say John drives like a New York Cabbie is, well … generous. Donning a head traction device ought to be mandatory when positioning oneself in the passenger seat. Weaving in and out of traffic is a euphemism for the pinball machine projectile that is my husband’s vehicle. Truly, if lift off were to occur in relationship to the distance from a rear bumper to our front one, we’d be airborne most of the time. On a two-lane road, the centerline merely denotes the middle of the road. Lanes? Shmaynes. Best to straddle said line as it leads unerringly – um – forward. Curvy mountain roads offer his … [Read more...]
Happy Thanksgiving!
With grateful hearts, here is our gift to you ... (John and Laura performing "Grateful") … [Read more...]
The Accident: “Why?” The Wrong Question
It was 4:30 pm on a Friday afternoon. TGIF. My grandboys and I were in high spirits. 25 water balloons were filled, tucked gently into bags and loaded into the trunk for launching from one end of a soccer field to the other. Seatbelts fastened, chattering excitedly, we drove under sullen gray clouds filled with the promise of rain. I tucked sunglasses into my purse. I wouldn’t need them this afternoon. How I wish the sun had been shining that day. Perhaps those glasses would have averted what was to come. The boys jumped from the car and we set up on one end of the field in a park … [Read more...]
On Worry
The knock on the door was innocuous enough. I scooted back from the dinner table and said, “hold that thought” to my son and mused as I walked to the door that I would make that Thai stir fry again. Worth it. “Laura?” a middle-aged, clean-cut fellow asked. “Yes?” “Consider yourself served.” He thrust a packet of papers at me, turned abruptly and hurried to the street. Time arrested, as in disbelief I scanned official documents stating that in this new state where I’d moved with my children, my ex-husband had filed suit against me yet again … unfit mother. He would settle for no … [Read more...]
Indifference vs. Authenticity
My parents forgot to show up for my high school graduation. They were in country, Ethiopia, and in residence. They simply went on a day outing, and didn’t come. Six months before while we were on furlough in America, I soloed a Christmas song “The Little Road to Bethlehem” in front of fifteen hundred people and received my first standing ovation ever. My parents waited in the car, tickets in hand, until the show was over. Each time I held the disappointment in my heart. It had happened before, it would happen again. That I kept hoping for a different result was the insanity. But I was … [Read more...]
You Are Amazing
Written after a conversation with a woman who had just read The Fifth Sister, and shared her story with me. You are amazing. Look at what you’ve done with your life, given all you’ve been through. You have a heart full of love. They couldn’t take that from you. You worked on yourself to make sure you didn’t do to another what they did to you. You rose above horrifying betrayal and believed you could love and be loved. You found a good spouse, who adores you, thinks you’re smart, witty, a little bit quirky, and loves you flaws and all. You have given your children a safe home. … [Read more...]
Let’s Talk Crazy Making
“…Though you have done nothing shameful, they will want you to be ashamed. They will want you to kneel and weep and say you should have been like them. And once you say you are ashamed, reading the page they hold out to you, then such light as you have made in your history will leave you. …It is only candor that is aloof from them, only an inward clarity, unashamed, that they cannot reach. Be ready. When their light has picked you out and their questions are asked, say to them, “I am not ashamed.” A sure horizon will come around … [Read more...]
No One Gets to Die on My Watch
“I have a strict rule. No one is allowed to die on my watch,” a quiet assured voice in the vicinity of my right ear said. “I have to lower your pain level slower than you’ll like to keep my promise.” I have no idea if I nodded, but she thumbed a tear off my cheek. Weeks before, I had blitzed right past “It’ll be a little rough coming out of surgery,” to the six week recovery period, and the day I could get back on my beloved SUP (standup paddle) board. My husband and I flew to San Francisco and threw a party. I almost managed to forget I would return home to surgery, but here I … [Read more...]
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