late night letter 27 Aug 2013 | 03:44 am

Late at night, after the kids have gone to bed, I turn out the light and lie awake staring at the ceiling. I listen to the grasshoppers and the crickets outside. When I was very little, I thought thos...

the path 24 Aug 2013 | 07:51 am

“God is the Master Painter.” -J. David Brooks In the fall of 1987, Mr. Brooks taught an introductory-level history of art course at 8 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At that age, I resented the hour. ...

wing walking 22 Aug 2013 | 08:52 pm

I had a knot of anxiety in my stomach all day, yesterday. I could feel it, uncomfortably, as I contemplated the cloudy sky on the traction table. My spine straightened slowly, creakily, but a corner o...

one wing 18 Aug 2013 | 09:01 pm

I’m listening to Pandora and the electric box fan is blowing through the curtains. It’s pleasant. I’m flipping through a sketchbook I’ve filled by fits and turns, and weaving over all this in one silk...

windows 16 Aug 2013 | 05:35 am

Since my back injury in May I’ve seen the world a different way. I had some warning this time would come, a decade or so earlier. My middle son and I were in a car accident — it could have been much w...

Rumi 14 Aug 2013 | 02:57 am

grasshopper 12 Aug 2013 | 11:18 pm

I kept hearing a long chirp and rattle this morning in the kitchen. At first I thought it was the ceiling fan. Then I realized it was coming from somewhere beyond it– behind the wall clock. I pulled a...

the way it is 5 Aug 2013 | 11:15 pm

I folded and sorted the sons’ clothes yesterday — setting aside the ones that had been outgrown. It wasn’t just an organizational task, naturally. It was a hallmark event in my life: the hand-me-downs...

a day away 31 Jul 2013 | 07:14 pm

Yesterday I went offline. The boys and I went adventuring instead. We just got in the car and we went somewhere — because summer is nearly over, because sometimes you need to get out and catch the mom...

little spots of comprehension 27 Jul 2013 | 06:14 pm

The physical therapist has me lie on heated towels for a little while to soothe and relax my muscles before beginning the therapy. This in itself is an extraordinary small step of self-pampering. It i...