Imagine this: you’re lying back in a dentist chair. Your dentist is descending on you with a flashy steel scalpel, about to cut out one of your front teeth. As the morphine begins to blink your eyes closed, your dentist says, “Now, there will be some tethering to compensate your lateral incisor. Make sure…
I recently had a dream that I almost drowned in the ocean shallows. I was floating when a massive whirlpool formed beneath me. I tried to get my bearings but I couldn’t swim against the current, pulling me down, down, down. I started to panic when I heard a splash behind me and felt a…
What’s the first thing to come to mind when you hear the words, “Kiss me”? Or how about, “popcorn”? Or what about “colorectal”? EXACTLY. Words have weight. Words are not neutral; they come with more baggage than an American family taking their first trip to Disneyworld. Some words, like “combine tractor” create elicit clouds of…
Lent has me thinking about the ubiquity of suffering. Sickness is part of the universal human experience, but we try so hard to disengage from it. You would think we all understand that we are all going to die (unless you are Walt Disney, who has probably come the closest to cultural immortality)! But it’s…
Toban says the day he knew I really loved him was the day I was diagnosed with stage IV cancer. I had just been told my life was over, and he said he felt something Hallmark should probably trademark: “You looked at me with such love that I knew I was a witness to what…
This week marks the beginning of Lent, the forty days in the Christian liturgical calendar leading to the commemoration of Jesus’ crucifixion (Good Friday) and resurrection (Easter). For many Christians, it’s a time to temporarily abandon vices, try new spiritual practices, or give up Chik-fil-a milkshakes (Lent conveniently corresponds with Spring Break beach vacation season)….
Today is one of those days when I don’t know whether to laugh maniacally or mouth breathe into a pillow. Someone pause the life train because EVERYTHING IS HAPPENING TODAY!!!! The project that started as a collection of moderately-comical emails and conversations with my far more brilliant and beautiful people is now officially published and…
This book is a way to faithfully stare down the darkness together.
There is nothing like a handwritten note to tell someone you care about them. But sometimes, a well-intentioned gesture can have the exact opposite effect.
I never got really good at asking for help, even in the days when I really, really needed it. But in my hardest days, it didn’t matter that I didn’t know how to ask. My people showed up.
Going through something terrible makes you want to become the “perspective police,” to command everyone to shut their pieholes until they fully recognize how horrible things are for you. What can you do when you’re trying to win the tragedy contest?
What is it about deep winter that makes us want to shed our natural insulation with new fitness routines or reorganize our pantry? Nevertheless, I embrace it. Long January dawns are great time for reflection on important lessons learned.
I’m committed to learning from the past. Here are 10 Lessons I Will Finally Learn in 2018. Hint: un-memorize your WIFI password.
