by Jody | Family, Human Condition
As a mother, I have discovered that there are few tasks any more difficult than finding words for another mother who has lost her child. The respective ages of the mother, or of her child, do not matter. For any woman who has both brought a baby into the world, and...
by Jody | Arizona Life, Family, Human Condition
It’s Christmas time, and during an ordinary year — regardless of how rough a year may have been — I put up the Christmas tree. Much is written — probably too much — about how meaningful it is to relive memories as ornaments are unwrapped...
by Jody | Human Condition
Last evening, I reached for a lidded china box and managed to flip its delicate lid onto the tile floor. The phrase “broke into a thousand pieces” was coined for the aftermath. I was sad for several reasons. One, the box was old, beautiful, and very...
by Jody | Family, Human Condition
Eggs were a serious matter to my grandmother. She had strong opinions about what color the yolks should be, how the whites should perform, and how they should “set up.” She was famous for her angel food cakes, and even had a small side business baking them...
by Jody | Arizona Life, Human Condition
We built the house as quickly as we could, because the children we had adopted needed bedrooms and a place to play. The neighborhood was so raw and new that there were no neighbors. But as other houses were added, and other households took roots, we were different....
by Jody | Family, Human Condition
My grandmother had a little side business baking angel food cakes. She used to send me to the creamery, which was right up the street and around the corner from her house. I didn’t have to cross a single street, so I could go alone, the coins in my pocket to pay...
