When I retired, 16 months ago, I prayerfully considered what I might do during the workday hours. The words “be radically available” came to mind, so I began to ponder what that might mean. Mornings I lingered in our prayer room until time to walk to morning Mass and occasionally invited friends over for a…

Today is Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Evan’s funeral and burial was on March 1st which was Mardi Gras last year, so I suppose I ought to have been prepared for the tsunami of grief that would topple me this morning. “Our God is a saving God; he, the Lord, holds the keys of death.”…

For the 1,176.5 miles between our former house in Phoenix and our current house in Houston I followed Doug’s big red Dodge Ram. Mostly I drove directly behind him, but there were a few times while driving on multi-lane freeways through big cities that I lost sight of the Ram and had to talk myself down…

We arrived home to Houston on the one year anniversary of Evan’s rafting accident. We didn’t plan it that way, but we all agree that somehow it’s most fitting. Today is the one year anniversary of the day we received the devastating text message from Doug. He had flown to Guatemala where the search continued…

When I was about 12 years old, my siblings came up with the idea to do a circus show for our parents and neighbors. The plan was to set up rows of chairs outside and make tickets and popcorn and lemonade for our audience. Through clever disguises one brother appeared to have very short legs…