Faith Gong: On dyeing eggs… again

The thing about special holiday traditions is that they are often stressful and messy.

Faith Gong: The bird that lived

In the middle of a March snowstorm, a lot of people put a lot of effort into saving the life of one mourning dove.

Faith Gong: The therapeutic benefits of… ironing?

“Vacuuming can be therapeutic,” the middle-aged woman told my 22-year-old self.

Faith Gong: Letting go of balloons

With five children aged three to fifteen, my parenting radar sometimes get twitchy, oversensitive. My trigger finger gets itchy at every blip that shows up — and believe me, there are a lot of blips.

Faith Gong: A story of marriage in three beds

I wanted to write about love for Valentine’s Day. When I thought about love, I thought about my marriage beds.

Faith Gong: How to be an undertaker

Our family said goodbye to two remarkable women this past December: My grandmother and my aunt died within two weeks of each other.

Faith Gong: Life with a saint

Erick’s habits don’t impact me directly, nor has he ever tried to impose them upon me, but it’s almost impossible not to feel lazy and gluttonous next to his saintly levels of discipline. 

Faith Gong: Reflections on New Year’s fireworks

The noise — those booms and pops and sizzles — may ward off evil, but it’s also a perfect, primal way to commemorate all the emotions of the past year.

Faith Gong: A nearsighted holiday

As I am writing this there are nine days left until Christmas, and we still don’t have a Christmas tree.

Faith Gong: Holiday film review: ‘Disenchanted’

About partway through I realized that it wasn’t just a film. That’s when I leaned over and whispered to my husband, “This is the perfect metaphor for perimenopause!” 

Faith Gong: Of toddlers and teens

Three-year-olds and teenagers, as it turns out, aren’t all that different.

Faith Gong: The November of middle age

Now, my experience of middle age may not be universal, but in my experience middle age is when your heart breaks and stays broken.

Faith Gong: The dog days of autumn

This morning, my 11-year-old daughter said, “I don’t know why, but I’m not really feeling excited about anything right now,” and I thought to myself: Me, too. 

Faith Gong: Story of my life

Perhaps because I’m a writer and a lover of literature, it’s been helpful for me to view life in terms of story.

Faith Gong: We all fall down

“Mommy, what do two lines mean?” my nine-year-old daughter called across the kitchen. And just like that, the Bad Thing entered our house

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