The Orchid Journal

During our Christmas lunch this afternoon, my mom read the Nativity story from the book of Luke. She explained to my nephews that Christmas was celebrating Jesus' birthday, that we celebrate him coming to earth as a baby to rescue us. To punctuate the joyous news in a concept that the three and five year old crowd could understand, the adults around the table shouted out birthday greetings to Jesus. Happy birthday,Jesus! Thank you for saving us! Happy birthday to you,happy birthday to you! My five year old nephew proceeded to ask his father if we could call Jesus to wish him a Happy Birthday. "What is his phone number?" he wondered. We all chuckled. I said, "Well, Jesus doesn't have one. He doesn't need one because we can just talk to him out loud or from our hearts and he'll hear us." Of course a concept like Jesus having a phone number could not be ignored in my goofy family, so we ran with it. Brother-in-law1: What if He did have a ...

Thank you, Washington Post for this tribute: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/newtown-school-shooting-victims/

The funny thing about days is that the same one never comes twice. Mondays are traditionally the worst days of the week because they start a school or work week, but I've had Fridays that were more tragic than a month full of Mondays. I've heard friends bemoan the travesty of a mundane day, that their lives never change, that day in and day out, nothing interesting happens. There are times when I identify with this sentiment, however, I've found that the "rituals" of our lives never happen the same way twice. There are horrid days, tragic, and splendid days, days of sunshine, days of rain, an earthquake on one day, a thunderstorm on another, a boring day, a cold day, a surprisingly fun day, a day of routine and a day of wild freedom. One day, while visiting a vintage shop in Burlington, VT, a squirrel sauntered in through the second story window via a nearby tree branch. The squirrel, presumably a female for her interest in dresses, tight-roped along the ...