“Do you want these left out of the bag?” the cashier says, holding up two bottles of water.
“That would be great,” I say. “We need those for the flowers. We’re stopping at the cemetery.”

Although I grew up way back in the 1900s, as my children like to say, I often feel I failed to absorb much of the pop culture of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. And arcade games are definitely on that list.

Please join me in praying for all those affected by the tragic shooting at the Capital Gazette.

Summer doesn’t always match the picture-perfect image of summer in my mind. Often, instead, it’s full of dripping popsicles, scraped knees, and overtired children who are up way too late giggling under the covers. But it’s full. And there is a richness to that.

Going away on vacation is always amazing, but I am a huge fan of staycations, which is how the boys and I have spent our week.

As we were walking to our cars, our children were running ahead—the way children do. And we saw them stop to look at what seemed to be a brown leaf floating across the sidewalk.

I started writing these while on an airplane yesterday, but then I didn’t manage to finish them until today. But it felt a little like being in Green Eggs and Ham. “Can you write takes on a plane? Can you write them on a train? In a car or on a tree…?”

As I was boarding, a flight attendant said, “This is a crowded flight, so we are going to make some friends today.”

Sometimes we ask St. Anthony to help us find something that is missing. And sometimes we don’t realize what we are missing until we find it.

Mental illness isn’t always something a person can navigate even with a strong, wonderful family and a compassionate friends. It often requires professional help and medication and sometimes switching to different professional help and different medications.