Thoughts about thoughts, feelings, and personal history
It will be Remembrance Day soon. Both my grandfathers were veterans of that so-called Great War. The war to end all wars. And my father and his cousin of the next. My social media feeds are awash with images of poppies and small children saluting - of beautiful choral arrangements of I Vow to Thee, my … Continue reading Remembrance
I have been contemplating love, again. In particular, "I love <insert name here>, but..." or, "I really do love him/her/other, it's just..." This makes me wonder if love is as much an organic thing as we've been led to believe. It seems that love is much more an act of will, the result of conscious … Continue reading Un/Conditional
A woodcut of a plague doctor. PUBLIC DOMAIN I remember being told that the origin of the use of “God bless you” after a sneeze was that a sneeze was held to be a sign that you had the plague and were going to die. Our history teacher in high school was full of fun … Continue reading Gesundheit
Today marks 40 years since the day I probably should have died. Am I living on borrowed time? Sometimes I think so. And perhaps that's why I am so profoundly uncomfortable whenever that reading about the talents comes up in the lectionary at church. Because I can't be said to have spent that time well. … Continue reading Forty Years On
(From 2018) I have two boys born nearly 10 years apart. I am grateful for that gap more often than I regret it. Like most people I was (and continue to be) bewildered by the task of raising decent human beings. I have an odd, paradoxical reaction to parenting advice, whether it comes in a … Continue reading Alien Parenting
Elizabeth Knighton Brown 