Daffodils and Fireflies

In the summer, nearing the end of twilight exists that time of the day when fireflies emerge and flash their bottom. They flutter with...

I accustomed myself to accepting death at a very young age. Death happens. A person is born, she lives, and she dies. At its simplest...

The night we came home from the hospital, I slid into my neighbor’s car, and she drove us to a shopping plaza, where we parked beneath a...

When I was about three years old, my mother took me to her friend’s house for a party. It might have been a birthday party or a...

I wanted to show our students Akeelah and the Bee , so a coworker loaned me her copy of the movie. I am preparing for today’s class by...

The girls from the high school track team are sitting at their own round tables, separated from their parents. I am sitting at a table...

After dinner last night, I slipped into my car and headed for Michaels. It was already 8:10, so I would have less than one hour to arrive...

Even well into my adulthood, I did not understand parents who said that their reason for not wanting to die was that they didn’t want to...

I met Danith when I was eight and half years old. He can’t recall that moment, but I can. My parents and I were visiting his home to...

I remember stepping off the city bus with my grandmother. I was, maybe, three or four years old at the time. From the bus stop, she and I...

For a few weeks, I had noticed those moments where I believed that Danith and I would be okay. Our children have passed, and although we...

It must be after midnight. The cars that normally rev by the house are few and far between now, and the only sound nearby is that from...

About three weeks after our daughter’s passing, Danith had to travel to Japan for a conference where he was a keynote speaker. He...

Danith has come home late from work, and as he sets down his briefcase he asks if I’ve seen the snow. I am sitting in the living room...