When Joseph disappeared inside the inn, Mary slid off the donkey. Because her legs trembled so, she leaned against the beast to keep from collapsing. Oh, how she ached from the journey! Had it only been three days? It seemed more like three months, three years even. Though the trip was arduous, it afforded her […]
A Father and Child Reunion (An essay on a father. And forgiveness.)
By Jennifer Norstrom Silbert Exactly one year ago tonight, my brothers, their wives, and I were standing vigil over my dad’s hospice bed at my parents’ home in Wisconsin. We expected, but didn’t know for sure, that Dad wouldn’t make it through the night. His cancer had roared back into his life just three weeks […]
10 Tips for Living a Whole-Hearted Life (As taught by Brene Brown when she was my co-pilot)
At the end of last year as I drove over the river and through the woods to visit my grown daughter, Brene Brown taught me how to live a whole-hearted life. Because my friend Karen Haring—founder and executive director of Libera, Inc.—recommended more than once that I listen to Brown’s 6-cd audio recording of her […]
No Ordinary Joe (The backstory on the #2 guy in the Christmas story.)
She is dead to me. I tried to speak the words but instead I swallowed them, bitter as bile, moments after my mother delivered the news. “Sit,” she said when I entered the room for the midday meal. She pushed a cup—more wine than water—across the table. “Drink.” Parched from the morning’s work and wood dust, […]