It was 2004 when my husband, Doyle, had a dream he will never forget. In the dream he saw a tiny little girl, about two, with hair the color of a blackbird's wing and eyes the shape of watermelon seeds. She was sitting on the back of a tractor trailer, in a red shirt, waving at him and … [Read more...]
Vivian, Nathan, and Heaven’s Surreal Swamps
I can't stop thinking about Vivian, and I can't stop thinking about Heaven. I can't stop thinking about this girl, her dark poetry, her nuanced eye for composition and photography, and the fact that, as a little girl, she was the most adventurous eater on Planet Earth. I even wrote about her … [Read more...]
For One More Father’s Day: The Gifts We’d Give
Happy Father's Day, Dad! People keep saying you're in a better place, and I believe them. But that still doesn't mean we don't wish things were different. It doesn't mean we don't think it absolutely sucks to lose a dad and an Opa to lung cancer, you who never smoked in your life, except … [Read more...]
Heaven, Pope Francis, and Dinah Blue the Basset Hound
Apparently Pope Francis's words about pets going to Heaven have been wildly twisted. What he really said was this: "The pope's talk to the crowd that day centered on the End Times and the transformation of all creation into a "new heaven" and a "new earth." Citing St. Paul … [Read more...]
10 Thoughts on “The Fault in Our Stars”
1. The book is better than the movie. (As if anything else was possible.) 2. Hazel Grace and Augustus are stellar character names John Green had me at Hazel and Augustus. (Okay, so I’m a name freak.) I honestly think these honest, real-as-flesh-and-blood characters … [Read more...]