It’s overcast at the cottage this morning. It was a spur of the moment decision to come up here late yesterday. One minute we were sitting on the bed folding laundry talking about this year’s brilliant fall colours. Twenty minutes later we were on the road. The last thing I threw in my bag on… Continue reading thanksgiving
Author: MeaningMaker
the world still to come
TRIGGER WARNING: Overdose, Death A friend of my son’s passed away unexpectedly on the weekend from a drug overdose. The cause of his accidental death is not being said in hushed tones, the way it once would have been. It was shared openly today in his obituary. He was 22. He’d visited our house a… Continue reading the world still to come
#lovewhatmatters
This story was originally published July 20, 2022 by Love What Matters, a digital platform dedicated to finding and amplifying the daily moments of kindness, compassion and love in the world that so often get overlooked. I was stirring a cup of tea as we sat around the kitchen table at the end of a… Continue reading #lovewhatmatters
a fire that doesn’t go out
I’ve said before that there are days when I can barely handle the world. At least, not the whole thing all at once. Including the hateful parts, the misogyny, the brutal disregard by the powerful of the powerless. Sometimes, I feel like I can only be a citizen of this house. Of this cool summer… Continue reading a fire that doesn’t go out
about mothers
This is the thing about mothers…. Even as a small child some of us will understand that our mothers have secrets. Longings and hidden sadnesses. Silent sorrows and quiet pains. Some of those things will only ever be told to daughters. And, in that way, we’ll be bound together for eternity by them. Some of… Continue reading about mothers
a brilliant wreckage
I left a brilliant wreckage. A white-hot, smoking tangle of family and love and hopes and forevers – the shatter of which was so great — at least in my mind — that after the words were out, there was no longer any sound. And in the wake of it, I told myself that the… Continue reading a brilliant wreckage
the weight of the world is love
It’s lunchtime and I closed my office door. I feel sad today. Nothing happened to me. I’m blessed in an embarrassment of ways. And yet, some days just seem to sit on top of me like a stone. The world is too much on those days. The multitude of wrongs we do to each other… Continue reading the weight of the world is love
i’m still here
She kneels down next to me and presses her palm to the side of my face. The softness of her. Her hands always so warm. She leans close, pressing her forehead to my cheek. And we stay that way for a minute or two. I’m still here, she says. All you have to do is… Continue reading i’m still here
stars
On a crisp January night, I look up through the scalloped treetops, at the twinkling mansion of the night sky. I don’t know much about the constellations or the heavens, or what’s beyond those things, but they make me wonder. The brightest stars beg me to wish on them. Standing there in the fresh snow,… Continue reading stars
the blue house
A poem I haven’t thought of in some time has been hanging around me the past few days. Maybe it’s a sign. Maybe it’s a message. It turned up for me again this week as I was doing some research for a book idea. The poem is called The Blue House (by Tomas Transtromer). In… Continue reading the blue house