I've been a runner for 15 years, so I'm friends with pain. Runner's knee, plantar fasciitis, bursitis, chronic frostbite, intestinal scarring (yes you can ...

There's no charming way to say that I like to be alone. I once quipped to a friend that I'd be content living on a mountaintop, and then I - you know -- ...

I'll have you know I didn't lose my cat. I merely misplaced her. The day after Christmas I wrote a tale from the perspective of a stray cat who had been ...

I am a huntress, so there's nothing else to be. I was born under a shed during a cold, sopping spring season. My coat thickened up quickly and I opened my ...

Man's passion for renewal can be seen in many things - from the crude marble slab Michelangelo carved into "David," to the limestone masonry of the pyramid ...

People are so warm to ask about my life during conversation. While my version of camaraderie usually produces cold or awkward questions such as "what are you ...

The Husband was looking at houses for sale, but I wasn't so sure. We had lived in our house on Forest Drive for more than eight years, filled the place with ...

After eight years of dating, my brother Seth finally married his longtime girlfriend, Jess, last Saturday. Our four sons had never been to a wedding before, ...

I'm not going to say who did what - I ain't no snitch - but I will say that there was a "grounding" here last week. I had never grounded any children before; ...

I remember when I was a good cook. It seems like only yesterday. In the heyday of that era, I sat in a perfectly clean kitchen, while my one baby played ...

When are we too old to fall in love with Beowulf? Now, I'm not saying there's an age limit to falling in love, in general. The requirements for that are ...

Ten years ago, I lived in Grand Junction, Colorado. I could just say I lived anywhere but here, because that was my real goal: Siberia would have been just ...

In cosmology, the white hole is poorly named. A white hole in space is, in theory, the opposite of a black hole. Experts define black holes as points of ...

Here lived a tree named Ash, tall and bent. He had dark eyes, long limbs, and bark of integrated depths. He was deliberate in all his ways. Springtime ...

I had to read "The Grapes of Wrath" once again. The first time I read the Steinbeck classic, I didn't enjoy it, because: • I was too young. • I don't ...

This town has been good to me. It's been a safe place to totter and grow. It's borne my follies, my misconceptions, and even my grammatical mistakes. ...

There was once a world full of gorgeous monsters. The monsters were all different from one another. Some were enormous, armored, and serpentine as dragons; ...

I used to hate it when people misspelled my name. I sallied forth with all the entitlement of a dentist who bristles at being called "Mr."or a king who ...

"Mom, remembo summo?" I do remember summer. "Remembo when we would go outside without coats and gwoves and even shoes!" Yes. We all went outside, ...

This week I got the flu, and I tricked myself into watching a movie. I'm not sure which was worse. Now don't get me wrong, I like movies. I'm just selective ...

The twins were having fun in the house, even though icicles surrounded us like transparent prison bars. They climbed onto the couch, looked out over their ...

The Infant I've got a little baby, Bet you didn't know A little, six-month baby With little, six-month toes. She wasn't mine to carry, But I never ...

Christmas has come, blazing and cozy. Earlier this month, in a fit of whimsy, I asked for "nothing" for Christmas. But this is America, so I got a few ...

"What do you want for Christmas?" The Husband was asking me that question, and I had an answer for it, but the answer had not yet solidified into the metallic ...

Soft music wafted along a clean kitchen floor. I was peeling potatoes, and I craned my neck over the task in what I thought was graceful concentration. In ...

There was a woman who loved November more than any other month, but didn't know why. She fumbled for a reason. "Perhaps it's the refreshing chill," she ...

In late October, I wrote this in my journal: "The honey-locust tree is losing its leaves this morning - an answer to last night's swooping frost. "The ...