Mary had grown up knowing that she was different from the other kids, and she hated it. Born with a cleft palate, Mary would hear the jokes and tolerate the stares of other children (some cruel, others, simply curious) who…
Welcome to a new year. People have asked about my resolutions. (I tell them I’m still working on last year’s list.) Or, with our precarious world, some ask for advice on navigating it all. (I don’t remember taking a seminary…
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium is the strangest, most fantastic, most wonderful toy store in the world. The store is run by Mr. Edward Magorium (who claims that he is two-hundred-forty-three years old), assisted by an insecure Molly Mahoney, and a…
On my walk this morning, a conversation with the geese. We stand on a hoarfrost landscape, our temperature here just a wee bit above freezing. I’m sporting my stocking hat and scarf, but the geese seemed unfazed.“I have a new…
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson began her career as an accomplished viola player. While on tour in Europe (in the late 1980s), her viola was stolen. She could have replaced it. As would be imagined, the theft threw her into a state…
A great Rabbi died. He had been revered and loved by his congregation. After his death, it was decided that the Rabbi's son, himself a Rabbi, would take his father's place.This pleased the congregation, for the son would be "just…
In the perfume shop show window was a large jar of freckle salve, and beside the jar was a sign, which read: Do You Suffer From Freckles?"What does the sign say?" asks Pippi Longstocking. She couldn't read very well because…
“You all irritate me,” I tell the geese. “Well, truth be told, only sometimes.”“That’s an interesting way to start a homily,” one says, without looking up.“Okay. Maybe it’s not you. It’s me,” I tell them. “Truth be told, I’m churning…
Life stretches us all. Sometimes to the breaking point.Needing a story (with an infusion of hope), my mind gratefully retreats to an unseasonably cool night at Vashon’s Red Bike Restaurant. It is packed with patrons, for a local fundraiser auctioning…
There is a well-known experiment involving a group of ten monkeys, a ladder and bananas suspended from the ceiling. (Yes, this sounds like a joke; only without the Irish priest or the pub.)When the first monkey (headed for the bananas)…
