Red's Wrap
Happiness. It's relative.
Category: Marriage, Family, Dogs, and Cat
Finding the Narrow Lane
Four years ago, I sat in bed on Sunday morning and, in a state of disbelief and incredible gratitude, read my essay in the New York Times. The Times’ editor gave the piece the title, “Fury Cannot Touch Me.” The title seemed overly dramatic… Continue Reading “Finding the Narrow Lane”
More Coffee?
Every morning this week has been a test of my ability to find the narrow passageway between two indecisive people that will lead me to the coffee, then to the creamer, then to the cereal or waffle or yogurt or whatever else the free… Continue Reading “More Coffee?”
Q and A with a Seventies Single Mom
Q: So I’m fascinated by this topic. Just thinking about what it must have been like to have been a single mom in the seventies. Forty years ago. Another world. A: Yeah. It was a bitch being left alone on the prairie in my… Continue Reading “Q and A with a Seventies Single Mom”
Time in a Bottle
That’s my brother on the bed, being a new baby, the afternoon’s sunlight softly sprayed across my parents’ bedspread. He is waking from a nap and because he is their first baby and still new, my mother calls for my father to fetch the… Continue Reading “Time in a Bottle”
A Person in the World
I’m in a stage of my life where I am wanting mothering to have been one of the things I’ve done but not the only thing or even, maybe, the most important thing. Part of my wanting to get out from under the mothering… Continue Reading “A Person in the World”
If This, Then That: Reflections on Adoption
The theology of adoption has a thick ribbon of rescue running through it. To rescue a child in dire straits is heroic. No doubt about it, children who are available for adoption, those beautiful little faces you see on the adoption web pages and… Continue Reading “If This, Then That: Reflections on Adoption”
The White Binder
My brother had our parents’ stuff laid out like a well-organized garage sale with no price tags. Relatives were picking up and putting down my mother’s costume jewelry which was arranged in rows on the basement ping pong table. I found a locket that… Continue Reading “The White Binder”
Some Things Take a Long Time to Learn
The key to being able to truly feel gratitude is to want less and accept more. I say this, of course, after already having lived a life that has been abundant with many things but knowing that it’s possible and common to have great… Continue Reading “Some Things Take a Long Time to Learn”
Don’t Make Me Leave Hastings
Just an hour ago, the sun was shining on my back while I painted the window frames. In the distance I could see the fog coming our way off Lake Superior and wished I’d started painting earlier. Now we’re enveloped and I hope it… Continue Reading “Don’t Make Me Leave Hastings”
Tiny Things Last
A tiny thing can last for years. The memory of it can be as fresh as the first second, the leaves on the bush as green, the soil underneath as loamy and dark and the tiny elves’ footprints as distinct. My brother would motion… Continue Reading “Tiny Things Last”
Snow Door | wisconsinacademy.org
Listen to Jan read her essay “Billy” presented on WUWM’s Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “At the Breakfast Bar” on WUWM Lake Effect
Jan’s essay “The Parish Hall,” on WUWM Lake Effect
“Fury Cannot Touch Me,” Modern Love, NYT, 9/29/11
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