Content warning–this post is about sexual assault and rape. I am fortunate. While not all of my dates in my youth were great, all of my dates were safe, consensual, and respectful. When I told boys to stop, they did. Even if a few of them spent time trying to convince me to change…
……I got all my sisters with me. That’s about all the lyrics I know from the Sister Sledge song, but they are enough. This weekend I flew to Seattle, stayed with my sister, visited another sister, and met a new sister. I have one more sister yet to meet, and one other sister I have…
This summer at our All Church Retreat, we baptized a young man who happens to be transgender. He was able to claim the name he wanted to claim when he was baptized because he had not been baptized as an infant, with another name. Two other members of the church were also there at the…
We saw the film Three Identical Strangers last night. Here’s the synopsis of the film from its website: Three strangers are reunited by astonishing coincidence after being born identical triplets, separated at birth, and adopted by three different families. Their jaw-dropping, feel-good story instantly becomes a global sensation complete with fame and celebrity, however, the…
I haven’t published much lately about my birth family discoveries, mainly because some of the more recent ones are taking me a while to process. There continues to be much gift for me through all of the experiences I’ve had, whether they’ve been the joyful reunion kind or the painful answers kind. I’m the kind…
I’m currently in St Louis, attending the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), our biennial national meeting. The first GA I attended was 22 years ago in Albuquerque, where we were living at the time. My son Alden was a baby in a stroller at that assembly, and he was there with me…
The Enneagram is a tool that has helped me more than any other. It recognizes and numbers 9 (“ennea” = “nine”) different personality types and offers a path to understanding, to acceptance, and to transformation. If you’re unfamiliar with the Enneagram, I do not recommend that you take an online test to determine your number.…
In the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, there has been rhetoric about making schools “harder”. The idea seems to be that if teachers (or other school employees) are packing heat, the bad guys won’t target those schools. President Trump wants to arm the “highly adept” or “weapons…
The I am From Project has a poem template to encourage conversation. They write: We want to be heard, not herded; we want to speak, not be spoken at or for; we want to break through stereotypes, profiling, and dismissal to be listened to in our full humanity. I encourage you to check out the resources…
William Stafford’s poem, “The Way it is”, is my companion on this first day of a new year. The Way It Is There’s a thread you follow. It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change. People wonder about what you are pursuing. You have to explain about the thread. But it is hard…
Glass Overflowing 