I wanted to write this post immediately on returning from Hawaii, but for some reason, I couldn’t. Some things need a little time to settle. On our last day, Cass and I woke up early, packed up our things and drove with the top down to Pu’uhonua O Honaunau. It’s a national historic park, south…
When I was in Hawaii last week, I visited Painted Church or, more properly, St. Benedict’s Catholic Church. It’s a scenic, little-white-church tucked away in the greenery south of Kona and worth a quick stop. The church is famous for the murals covering the walls and ceiling, painted by Father John Velghe, an untrained folk…
I believe that for two emotionally healthy people, love and integrity are enough. I believe those two things can bridge idealogical differences, extended family problems, money issues, illness. Because two emotionally healthy people will own their own shit. They will have the strength to be honest even when it is painful, motivated by a deep…
Last night, I arrived back to my guest suite at 7:30pm. I took a shower. I really needed it. My legs were caked with mud in spots. My hair hadn’t been washed for four days and was stiff from the salt water. I was exhausted but it was the best kind of tired—the physical tired…
In Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Life and Love from Dear Sugar there is a letter from a man who signs himself as “Beast with a Limp.” He writes that he has been disfigured by a blood disorder that he has been dealing with since childhood. He writes that there is no way to remedy…
On Friday I was about ready to leave for work when my nurse ran into my office for gloves and sprinted down the hall. Running in our environment is never a good sign so I grabbed some gloves and ran after her asking why we were running. A man was collapsed in front of the…
Hello, Silent One. Silence for weeks and for months, Imagined with a crevasse of compassion. And now that I have beheld Your unyielding form, I understand. You, at your core, are not uncaring, But your silence is. In my first life, If I learned nothing else, It is that silence has no room for Heat…
One of the last conversations I had with my Grandma Whipple was while we were standing in her kitchen. I had stopped by their house on my way to or from someplace for a quick hello. Grandma and Grandpa Whipple’s house was always quiet and relaxed. I would stop in at an hour too late…
It’s a striking contrast to leave the lively, bright Christmas Eve party and return to my quiet apartment with my sleeping child, unable to delay his slumber over the excitement of Santa Claus and presents. The quiet is dramatic, marked by the purr of the refrigerator and the click of expanding and contracting metal in…
Last year a wise friend said to me, “Michelle, it’s okay to hope for good things.” I’ve spent most of my adult life releasing hope as a means of protecting myself from disappointment. It’s actually a very efficient way to make oneself disappointed. I now call it pre-disappointed. It happens when I decide I will…