I have heart family. Brothers who have grown into their places, sisters who do not need similar faces to be part of my heart’s family. Once I even had almost-mothers, and almost-aunts, each now lost to time and distance. This weekend, one of my brothers is here to visit his own father (no kin –…

In Buddhism, everything is connected. I had a teacher once ask, in a workshop, how my breath was distinguishable from someone else’s. Another learner asked where ‘I’ began, and ‘other’ ended. Or vice-versa. And the truth is? Even science isn’t really sure. If my breath commingles with yours (the Arabs have a saying for close…

Here you have them: three of my much-loved, and absolutely perfect nieces & nephews. These are my heart-sister’s daughter & son, and my niece’s husband. With them? Their beaming aunt, who is even prouder of the adults they’ve become than she was of their childhood projects & accomplishments. My niece, her beloved, and my nephew drove in just to…

Today would be my parents’ 68th wedding anniversary. I think… 🙂 They were married after the war — mother a beautiful divorcée, working in my father the captain’s recruiting office. Well in to a tumultuous marriage, they divorced. Then remarried each other. Not the kind of rôle models you want for marriage, really. My father…

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