Archive for the ‘Family’ Category
Where the Quilt is kept
Inside the NAMES Project Foundation headquarters, where the AIDS Memorial Quilt is stored: This corner is for quilt panels that have not yet been combined with others to make the enormous quilt squares (composed of eight panels, each of which is 3 feet by 6 feet). The squares are about as tall, when complete, as [...]
January 31st, 2012Visiting the AIDS Memorial Quilt
The squares are bigger than you could even imagine. They command the room, the space. What a powerful source of memory, of honoring those who we have lost to AIDS. As I have written about a few times already , I have been exploring the many squares on the AIDS Memorial Quilt, and have been remembering [...]
January 23rd, 2012But time makes you older
At one of my favorite childhood places, the children’s wing of the Dickinson County Library in Iron Mountain, Michigan, I have two specific memories. One is a compilation of the many hours I spent sitting in the carpet-lined claw-foot bathtub someone had brilliantly installed there, making it suddenly the most fun place to read a book. The [...]
January 21st, 2012Michigan
I just returned from a week in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where both sides of my family have their roots, and where I was raised. There are lots of lovely things I’d like to share, but for now, I just want to share this stunning bit of cold, bright, beauty.
January 6th, 2012Christmas is where we are, now
Paul and I made real, bourbon and cognac infused egg nog this year, as hosts for the holiday. This year we celebrated some new family traditions, since our lives have shifted greatly from this time last year. My parents have sold their home, and now live in a one-bedroom condo-style apartment on Main Street in [...]
December 25th, 2011And Carl is 18 today
Carl has never not loved sweets 
The youngest in our family, Carl turns 18 today, finally graduating us to four adult children. He has just started school at the University of Georgia, where he finished his freshman summer term last week. Very proud of this “little” brother too.
Neil turns 20 today
Neil on his third birthday My brother Neil, the third of four and the middle boy in our family, turns 20 today. He is stationed at Guantanamo Bay, where he works as a dental assistant. So proud of this grown-up guy. This was back in his “light bulb head” days.
August 6th, 2011Protected: Adoption series: Jim & Kristen Weathersby, and adopting from Guatemala
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
April 20th, 2011Muammar: A note on my mother’s nickname
My mom’s name has been in the news a LOT lately. About six or seven years ago, at some point, she began referring to herself as “Muammar,” a take on Muammar Ghaddafi’s name, but we would most often spell it simply “Momar.” If you hadn’t guessed, this is more than anything a play on the [...]
March 30th, 2011Please excuse my protracted silences
It is unbelievable the kind of things that are unfolding right now in the world. We’ve started air strikes in Libya, and uprisings continue all across the Middle East and North Africa, most recently becoming violent in Syria. (It is rather jarring to think that the tipping point–or rather, the catalyst–for all of this was [...]
March 27th, 2011