116,516 | 405,399 | 36,516 | 58,209 | 2,216 | 4,497 I know very little about numbers and even less about war. I know the average person takes 23,000 breaths a day and the moon orbits the earth every 27 days or so. It takes the moon twenty-seven days to travel around the earth one time. Every night,…
Seven birds and, as of this morning, six baby mice. That is the death toll this spring. I can not provide context for this loss because I don’t know how many baby birds were in all of the nests around our house, nor do I know how many mice families call our piece of land home.…
I have never understood the practice of a sparkly Band-aid after a shot. A shot is painful, big tear inducing and a Band-aid with Mickey Mouse or Sponge Bob seems like a chintzy consolation. When my children were little they asked the inevitable question as they hopped up on the exam table in room 4.…
Waiting in line, anticipating your turn. It can be the take-a-number line at the DMV, or the youngest child waiting for her first high school dance. There’s tiptoe looking ahead, wondering what’s just beyond the door, or in front of the other bobbing backs of heads. At the same time, once your time is up, once it…
I found a little bird a few days ago. The little guy had fallen or been pushed from his nest prematurely. I’m not sure why I knew it was a “he,” but a “he” it was, at least in my mind. He’d fallen behind the stand that holds our backyard hose. We have lots of bird nests…
Most of my life I have believed in reincarnation, not like I’m coming back as a goat, but that we live multiple lives. Once our body gets old and tired, our soul leaves, goes somewhere (it really doesn’t matter to me where) and then we are recycled, dropped into another newborn body. In my theory…
What if I run out of time? There a lot of things I want to do, but I’m not ready yet. It’s not the right time or I lack experience. Things take time, work. I know, but how much time do I have? See things would be easier, I would be able to plan, if…
I am a stitch, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. I saw the Gebelein Man (Ginger) at the British Museum today. I’ve seen him before, but this time my thoughts are lingering. He was a young man, wounded in the shoulder, and buried in a shallow grave. The hot sand mummified him over…
According to my quick Google search, approximately 2.5 million people die every year in the United States. I don’t often look at this stuff, but I’m on this “things will never be the same as they are in this second” kick and that sometimes moves me to think about the end. A bit morbid, I know,…
