but for the grace of God

One important rule on aging is to never use the word GOD and to steer clear of anyone who freely uses the word God unless they are a priest, have just experienced a serious miracle,  escaped a near fatal crash, or found their favourite pair of shoes on sale.

Continue reading

telling stories

Last night a man said something to me that stopped me in my tracks.

Continue reading

be healthy

Before your child is born you have very few requests-

one,  actually

that he/she is healthy. Please God, you say, nothing else matters.

(Perhaps you might throw in- oh and -please don’t make it hurt too too much)

When you are fortunate enough to be presented with that very healthy baby, it is enough for an afternoon, and then you have new needs for them.

Let them latch on well, let them learn to sleep quickly, let them gain weight.

Soon you want them to read short novels at three, hit the baseball out of the park and play ‘nicely’ with their friends.

You want them to have divine gifts, talents and invitations to all the birthday parties. You want them to land their triple, look nice in shorts, have the  manners of a church mouse and the assertiveness of a bulldog.

You want them to excel in Math, Science and French. You need them to be funny, fit in, stand out, excel, dominate, create and master.

But suddenly if everything comes crashing down around them or within them, all you really want is the first thing you ever wanted for them;

That they be healthy.


helplessness is  the scariest thing to see in someone you love-click here for my  post on the topic