Captain Reverend Mother

  • Not On My Bingo Card

    Not On My Bingo Card

    A family trip to Amsterdam, four homemade bingo cards, and grace found outside the itinerary.

  • Kin In Spirit

    Kin In Spirit

    A papal visit in Naples, a phone-free teenager, a crowd full of joy, and a bus stop blessing I did not see coming.

  • The Blue Box

    The Blue Box

    Our teenager says we are damaging his aura. We call it the Blue Box, the brief stretch of years when all four of us still live under one roof.

  • I Ate My Neighbor’s Cat

    I Ate My Neighbor’s Cat

    I ate the cat. Or so I said. Comic disasters in Italian open into something larger about late learning, humility, and finally picking up an oar.

  • We Were Here

    We Were Here

    A week in England with family, football dreams, royal rooms, old buildings, and the British Museum opens into a reflection on history past and present, the close of Lent, and what it means to say we were here.

  • Carrying Home

    Carrying Home

    After five months of silence and an overseas move, Naples speaks through pizza, language lessons, lava stone streets, and a turtle carrying home on its back.

  • Ithaca, Again: Landing at the Launch

    Ithaca, Again: Landing at the Launch

    Forty years after high school, I walk the same halls that once sent me into the world. Time folds in on itself, and home remembers what we forget.

  • Hairspray and Hashtags: High School Then and Now

    Hairspray and Hashtags: High School Then and Now

    My son heads to his first homecoming while I prepare for my 40th reunion. High school shapes us all, though the marks it leaves look different across generations.

  • When Hope Feels Impossible

    When Hope Feels Impossible

    From bones at Solferino to smoke over the Pentagon to seventy years of marriage, this essay wrestles with cruelty, grief, and the persistence of hope.

  • The Sweaty Guy Always Finds Me

    The Sweaty Guy Always Finds Me

    From the yoga mat to the grocery line, small torments test our patience daily. This reflection weaves humor and Psalm 51 into a reminder that even petty frustrations can open us to a clean heart.