A good deed feeds the heart and soul
I was in Hopkins last week getting some service done on my car. The dealership where I bought the car and where I used to get my service work done went out of business not long ago, so I only recently started going to the place in Hopkins. Whenever I take my car in for service, I usually pack enough work to do – reading, writing, and whatever I can fit into a tote bag – and just wait there [...]
A shining star, a passing friend
A childhood friend of mine passed away last week. He lived in the house across the street from us, in a small town where everybody knew everybody else, and most of your relatives lived nearby. My grandma and grandpa lived two doors up from his house, and his grandparents lived two doors up from mine. Our parents knew each other long before either of us was born, and are still good friends today. He was the oldest of three brothers, [...]
Counting the moves, and counting the years
My daughter called the other day. In addition to the things we normally talk about on the phone, she asked if I remembered how old she was when we first moved from the Chicago area – where my husband and I grew up and where both of our kids were born – to Roanoke, Virginia, the first of several moves that eventually landed our family in Minnesota. I couldn’t answer off the top of my head, so I had to [...]
A few simple words have a powerful effect
I talked with Grace this week. Ever so briefly, and ever so gently. She has been on my mind constantly since I first met her a month and a half ago, and she’s been in many of my conversations and a fair amount of the writing I’ve done since then. Sharing a few words with her on the phone, however, was something totally new, and it absolutely made my day. Never mind that we don’t speak the same language and [...]
Ugandan Martyrs Brought Faith to Life
Whenever I hear the word “martyr,” I automatically think of the stories I learned – in religion classes at the Catholic school I attended – of the holy men and women who gave up their lives for Christ. They were ordered to renounce their faith, but refused to do so, and were killed because of it – often painfully and publicly. Stoned, beheaded, or fed to the lions. The mental images I have of martyrs are of people in togas [...]
Amazing Grace is alive and getting better
I got a phone call last week from my friend Tabitha, who’s still in Uganda. She had been in the hospital visiting Grace, who was having surgery the following day. Grace is the young mother I wrote about in my column two weeks ago. She’s from Gulu, in Northern Uganda, and I met her when I was there to speak with a group of women who have formed a farming co-op and are now rebuilding their lives after years spent [...]