On June 1, the first day of Pride Month, I posted this story to my company's employee newsfeed. I know how fortunate I am to be safe and comfortable enough to do that. I wish everyone could feel that way. Each year at the beginning of June, I think about Edie Windsor and Thea Speyer.… Continue reading may we all
easter sunday
This photo was taken on a sunny day in 2018 at the Coliseum in Rome. Charlene had gone off to find a bathroom and while I waited, sitting with my back against a stone wall, I looked out at this giant cross. A man crossed in front of me and, after admiring it for a… Continue reading easter sunday
chaos theory
Sometimes, the raging current of the state of the world sucks me under, and I start to think about what a terrifying, heart-breaking freakshow we’re living in these days. On those days, the world has never felt more chaotic. Recently, in an effort to soothe my roaming thoughts about that at 4 a.m., I stumbled… Continue reading chaos theory
glory days
Tomorrow night in an American stadium when I see The Boss step on stage, I'll briefly think about the guy who bullied a couple of us on my high school bus when I was in Grade 9 and 10. A jock from the football team for whom the rules that bound the rest of us… Continue reading glory days
something more
I think that deep down in our souls, all of us are probably aware that some kind of mystical evolution is our true task here. But, in my mind, we don’t talk about the mystical experiences we have enough. I suppose we feel it’s a little too “woo-woo.” It definitely grates against a rationalist view… Continue reading something more
what it will be
Whenever life got hard, Mom would often say, “it will be what it will be.” I assumed that she meant that things would turn out as they should — good or bad — and she would deal with it either way. She never said that things would look up eventually because they always did. Or… Continue reading what it will be
i would have loved her
For many, many years, there has rarely been a day that hasn’t begun with a cup of tea and the obituaries. I read them each day even before I read the daily headlines. Sometimes, I notice trends. For example, around this time of year – the last couple of weeks leading up to Christmas –… Continue reading i would have loved her
time goes by
This picture was taken the day my mom turned 75. That was seven and a half years ago now. Four years ago this afternoon, we sat together - my mom and dad and sister and I - in a puke-coloured room in the cancer centre as the doctor delivered the news that her cancer had… Continue reading time goes by
on longing
A couple of weeks ago, Richard Gere spent a day just up the street from my City Hall office filming scenes for his new movie called ‘Longing.” It’s an English remake of a critically-acclaimed Israeli film that premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2017. In it, Gere plays an aging bachelor who discovers that… Continue reading on longing
the only one
Tucked away in the corner of a little Italian place that, after the sun went down, was dim like a mine shaft and just as cold, we sat discussing the living we’ve done over the last 30 years. The two of us, middle-aged women now —whose bodies have performed a miracle or two since we… Continue reading the only one
MeaningMaker 