Seeing Queen Elizabeth II in Yosemite National Park in 1983 was magical. But not everyone was sure. In March of 1983, I was living in Yosemite National Park when Queen Elizabeth II came through on a tour. The Queen came to California as one of her regular jaunts around the…

At the outset of the pandemic, a Zen intensive with a most unusual sensei — my pet fish Romeo is a fish that lives in our kitchen. My daughter chose him from a pet store four years ago, when she was 11. She bought him with her own money along…

A woman seeks out my husband daily and shows me how to be better at loving There is another woman in our town who loves my husband. Her name is Pam. …

A challenging request leads to real holiday magic When my daughter was 6, she put one thing and one thing only on her wish list. “Dear Santa,” Libby wrote on a piece of pink stationary in her first-grade-best handwriting. “I want a magic wand for Christmas. One that is very…

Before this story begins, you should know that it has a happy ending. At the finale, you will be rewarded with baby birds chirping happily. …

How an experience 17 years ago prepped me for the pandemic — In the early days of February 2003, the amniotic sac in my uterus ruptured. It came as a spurt of viscous fluid soaking my sheets in the wee gloomy hours of a morning. At 12 weeks pregnant, nothing about that puddle was a good sign. The event marked the beginning…

Explaining Death — and Everything Else — to a Three-Year-Old During my daughter’s age of inquiry, there were more questions than answers Parenting a three-year-old is an invitation to live in a world where meaning has no basement. …