Maybe it’s that I’ve had two surgeries in three weeks and my carefully crafted “soft armor” slipped. Maybe it’s simply that now and then a little arrow of loss targets a heart and slips through to connect. Maybe it’s the lie perched on a tongue that says “I’m fine,” when “fine” is the least common denominator at that particular moment. Today, while looking for a photograph in my archives, this one fills the screen from a location I didn’t remember it being placed, and makes me cry. One instant I’ve taken note of a mirror smooth river, crisp air and glorious mountains, the next I’m smoothing … [Read more...]
You Are Cordially Invited
Occasion: Laura’s Pity Party Where: The Riverbank When: Really, really soon Everybody needs a good Pity Party now and then – that’s found in the gospel according to the not-feeling-so-saintly-today Laura: Party, Pity vs. 3. A righteous “woe is me, for I am undone,” sort of shindig. Where you can shed emotional altitude like an Osprey diving for supper, spoil for mental mayhem, and not get hung up on the sorry task of plucking your optimism up off the ground. Righteous indignation? Welcome. Liar, liar, pants on fire? Welcome. “I can’t believe” “you wouldn’t guess” “can you imagine?” “who … [Read more...]
I Am Not That Person
I’m not. I admire those who are. But it’s not me. What am I talking about? I have very little sympathy and no empathy for child molesters. Like – none. It isn’t in my DNA. I don’t feel bad about that. I have seen the landscape of families littered with the fallout of abusers. Children’s lives altered forever, mother’s hearts shattered into tiny little pieces at the news HER child was sexually abused. I’ve seen stunned grandmothers and grandfathers, aunts and uncles, sisters and brothers shake their heads as if clearing vision when disclosure occurs. Shrapnel is indiscriminate. Collateral … [Read more...]
My Grandmothers Gave Me Roots and Wings
Grandma was safe. Nana Kaye was a feminist before her time. Grandma gave me roots, Nana Kaye wings – the kind that help you soar, not just flutter out of the nest or hop from branch to branch. I often get asked, “What, do you think, helped you craft a decent life given your family’s history?” When my therapist first posed the question, I couldn’t say. Now perhaps I can. There appear to be common threads in resilience. A bad childhood is not a life sentence. As early as I can remember, Grandma was. Roly-poly, fluffy haired, barely five feet tall, her infectious laughter sparkled. When I … [Read more...]
Abandoned Boy
I find it astonishing that whether we call it karma, the universe, or prescience, circumstances find you. Mine usually fall under the category of, “I will never do, or go, or experience – that.” Never say never. Occasionally, though, it’s merely ironic fate – the thing you want most not to encounter, you encounter; hypocrites in power, for example, standing squarely in the path of safety for a child. I have, on several occasions, been the advocate that took on a religious institution or powerful individual over sexual abuse, and in one case, child abduction. Those incidents found me, not I … [Read more...]
Am I Doing The Right Thing?
Old voices. Old tapes. Family mores. And then there’s the history. Step off my family’s beaten path and reprisals were swift and carefully crafted to fell the wanderer. Once bested, the shepherd’s crook yanked the willful one back into the fold. I’ve been out of that fold for over thirty years now. I dodged the shepherds crook, protected my kids, and guaranteed that I couldn’t be trifled with by my parents. And still these childhood lessons insinuate. I find it amusing, no, that’s not quite the right word…curious how my mind works. Over coffee on our deck one morning, I told my husband that … [Read more...]
Family Secrets
All families have history, which is a euphemism for “skeletons in the closet.” They are alluded to, whispered about. Perhaps they become family folklore. Usually, there’s something about the story the family doesn’t want to talk about at all. I don’t know if my siblings know that our Nana Kaye married to escape her sexually abusive father. Because of him, my paternal grandparents left Kansas to homestead in Montana. I know this because Nana Kaye told me. I did not know about my Nana the day Stephanie had had enough. Stephanie was my high school chemistry lab partner the year we were in … [Read more...]
“Knock, knock. Who’s There?”
It’s been said that children laugh, on average, 300 – 400 times a day. Whether scientifically proven or not, that makes me smile. Nothing touches my heart more than to hear my children laugh. And my grandchildren? They open my heart wide. When a child laughs uninhibitedly, a big long sustained-to-their-very-core laugh, don’t you laugh delightedly right along with them? Videos of belly laughing babies go viral. Last weekend, my husband and my son were away at a magical place they visit each summer. I had my grandsons overnight. I’d picked them up later than usual, as I’d been interviewed … [Read more...]
A Woodshed Sort of Night
I recently had an unhappy night, filled with restless moments and memories. A woodshed sort of night. You know about the woodshed, yes? The place you take yourself for a good whooping. Parker Palmer says, in his book Let Your Life Speak, “No punishment anyone might inflict on me could possibly be worse that the punishment I inflict on myself by conspiring in my own diminishment.” My woodshed is well designed, artfully appointed with the faces of those whose voices I will forever need to quell, and although visited less often now than times past, I occasionally find myself within its … [Read more...]
Keepers of the Lie
It was a footnote that changed my life. I had an amazing therapist. In the course of our work together he would occasionally suggest I read a particular book, or watch a movie and tell him what value it had for me. What was the lesson to be learned? The “Aha” moment? This week he invited me to read People of the Lie, by M. Scott Peck. It is not an easy read – but back to the footnote. A healthy person has an instinct to get away from something dangerous. Sometimes even healthy emotions may appear negative at first glance. Revulsion, for example. Who likes the idea of revulsion? But it … [Read more...]
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