In the days before GPS, I spent a college spring break in a small town in England named Ross-on-Wye. One free afternoon, a host family offered to drive me and a couple friends to a beautiful spot in nearby Wales to visit the ruins of Tintern Abbey. Mrs. Gooch got a little turned around on …
Our family spent a night in the forest far from city lights. The best part of that is seeing more stars than you knew were there. I remembered a mountain getaway, years before, when I bundled my small, sleepy children and carried them one at a time into the cold, clear night to show them …
The self-healing mechanisms of the human body astound me. I’m no scientist, and I get over my head in a two-inch puddle when it comes to understanding the chemistry and biology involved just in blood clotting and skin repair. But that doesn’t keep me from being in awe of it. As many cuts, scrapes, …
The meaning of names intrigues me. Always has. All words are powerful, but names encapsulate identity. And they speak of the relationship between namer and named: This is what I think of you; this is who you are to me. My name is Margaret. It means “pearl.” To see oneself as a treasure, a gem …