She reminded me that the world was really one bee yard, and the same rules work fine in both places. Don't be afraid, as no life-loving bee wants to sting you. Still, don't be an idiot; wear long sleeves and pants. Don't swat. Don't even think about swatting. If you feel angry, whistle. Anger agitates…

Last week I had to have Mohs surgery on my chest to remove a large basal cell carcinoma. I've had the surgery twice before, on my shoulder and neck, so I knew what to expect. Basically the surgeon slices a thin layer of the spot and takes it back to the lab to examine under…

To know when you need to join in: that is the secret of your solitude: just as the art of true interactions with others is to let yourself fall away from high words into a single common melody.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke   I've been thinking about my brother and how I wrote that he would…

Theo has the most expressive eyes. He looks right into my soul and tries very hard to tell me things that half the time I just can't get. But still he is patient. Dog ways are not human ways. He is deeply into his chewing phase of puppyhood. I know that he is teething, helping…

I left Bern and came back home to North Carolina last summer. You probably think I was crazy to leave Europe. Yeah, I kinda was. Let's just say that dealing with a mental illness in a foreign country is a specific kind of  challenge. Anyway, I'd been struggling with a pretty bad depression, so I…

Winter. A true Southerner knows it better than anyone. We respect winter. Because we recognize exactly where it fits into the calendar year. It doesn't. It is so brief and so unpredictable that it hardly qualifies as a bonafide season at all.  But even though the unusual cold and precipitation might last just a few measly…

 And it is those we live with and should know who elude us. But we can still love them completely without complete understanding.Norman MacLean   A River Runs Through It There are slimy chunks of hotdog pieces in my sweatpants pocket as I sit here writing. They're leftover treats from the walk I took this morning with…

The urine patches in our backyard had finally started growing back into a solid carpet of green, no brown spots. Our good rugs and nice furniture had been brought back into use. The chewed table legs and sofa arms have been repaired. The mailperson no longer braces at the front door, poised for the snarling…

There is something about the winter light this afternoon that gives me perspective. The lack of visibility sort of points out that life is not an endless journey. Basically what I've got is right in front of me: today is the day I have to live in. Just today. And most important, that what lies…

There's a thin layer of frost that ices the glass between the window that looks out of the airplane. From my seat I can look down and see the gentle folds of green and white, the valleys that rest between the Swiss Alps. We're touching down in Zurich and I am "home" after spending the…

Today I'm sorting through my desk at home, and I come to the task that marks the New Year for me; a faithful ritual that I observe annually, without fail. Although looking at that picture - what the hell happened to 2003? Never mind that, today I fill in the last page of my 2017…

I am back home in North Carolina for a month to take care of a ton of medical appointments - dentist, endocrinologist, primary care, psychiatrist, dermatologist and, of course, my annual mammogram scan. Of all of these appointments, the mammogram has to be the hardest. As most of you know, my mom died from breast…

I'm driving up the highway from North Carolina through the mountains of West Virginia to see my dad in Charleston. There's a wedge of ice underneath my windshield wiper and I watch it slowly melt as the miles go by. It takes a really long time. I think about ice and mountains and all the…

I learned about drama from The Episcopal Church. It was like Broadway for a budding young actor. Church had everything: a spectacular stage with awesome props, dramatic organ music, a captive audience and the greatest scripts ever written. And as a kid, the high point of all the drama was the annual Christmas Pageant. I waited…

I've always called myself a feminist and frankly, I can't understand any woman who wouldn't. Each of us women have experienced sexual harassment or sexual violence. Each of us has been exposed to unfair treatment because of our sex. We're all in this together so don't tell me that you're not a feminist. When I…

Okay so there are some days that you have nothing going on and you're alone and the only thing you can think of to do is to go into your room and pull out your laptop. And you write. And maybe on another day you feel bored or at loose ends so you do the…

Last weekend was our anniversary getaway and it was cold and rainy. We spent most of the first day trying to make ourselves leave the cozy hotel room. Because we had come to experience the old city of Basel with its traditional Christmas Market. The first night was music and a tree lighting. And the music…

I run down to the creek and trot along its banks, this time of the year it is particularly gorgeous, the yellow and red leaves pad the dirt path and there is a fresh view of the meadow, stunning and new because the leaves are falling gently, unclothing the trees around me. Summer's bright extraversion,…

Halloween. The sweet sugar smell of candy corn and the warm orange glow of carved pumpkins. Crunchy acorns underfoot. Neighborhood children shrieking and throwing burnt-gold leaves. Every year these small things take me back to an autumn night 34 years ago. I remember that afternoon, how we spent the first stages of labor hurriedly carving…

  this morning there is a young woman sitting on a cold step on the river's edge her back to me, she stares across the brown green water watching, smoking perhaps worrying.   The past or today it floats away   all summer I had waited too timid or lacking motivation inspiration or just a friend…