Caught Up in God

On the car radio the other day I heard a song with a haunting melody but whose words I couldn’t understand. Finally I caught a snatch of the lyrics: “No hope of welcome.” There have been occasions, I imagine, for all of us, when we have been made to feel unwelcome, or perhaps even when [...]

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On my mother’s side of the family, my great-aunt Missie was the matriarch. (Many southern families have one: frequently unmarried, often living in the home in which she grew up.) Missie was a force to be reckoned with, both in the family and in the county, but in spite of her famous temper she was [...]

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My niece has a dog named Raven, a mixed-breed Labrador Retriever and Pit Bull. Although Raven had been abused in her youth, she has now found a happy home. She seems blissfully unaware of the Pit Bull’s reputation for fierceness, and her primary stance toward human beings is “Love me! Validate my existence!” She expresses [...]

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The levee along Lake Pontchartrain is being raised by two feet, with the result that in our area, access will be denied to the lake for the coming year. Barriers have been erected: one just outside our fence (and the fences of everyone with property facing the lake); the other running parallel to it, just [...]

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Not long ago, in Eckerd’s Drugs, I overheard a conversation between a father and a small child. I couldn’t see them, because they were at the checkout counter and I was separated from them by a tall display, but their voices were very clear and definite. — “I told you that you could have one,” [...]

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