Category: Reflections
What I Want You to Know About Prayer
“Hey Dad,” you say as you are getting ready for bed. “I learned the Act of Contrition prayer. Want to hear it?” “Sure,” I answer, readying myself. This is the part of your Catholic school education that I fear. The guilt. The shame. The… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About Prayer”
What I Want You to Know About 9/11
“Are you OK?” I ask you. You scratch gently again at your cheek, which is reddening a little from your touch, and then your hand jerks back toward your ear where it finds another itch to scratch. “I’m fine,” you say, but you don’t… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About 9/11”
What I Want You to Know on Your Seventh Birthday
Every loving parent has two warring instincts which, during normal times, reach a sort of uneasy equilibrium. First is the instinct to give your child everything under the sun. This starts during pregnancy, when parents convince themselves that a new baby somehow requires a… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know on Your Seventh Birthday”
What I Want You to Know About the Noise
A few nights before the last day of school, you stub your toe coming up our stairs, and the toenail chips and pulls partly away from the skin. I am outside pulling weeds when it happens, listening to an audiobook. I hear a noise… Continue Reading “What I Want You to Know About the Noise”
A Widowed Father 