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Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and being alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is [...]

"It was a September evening and all the gaps and clearings in the woods were brimmed up with ruby sunset light. Here and there the lane was splashed with it, but for the most [...]

Sometimes what soothes my soul is a three hour coffee with my bestie while sitting outside on a patio, laughing and illuminating perspectives which shape attitude and mindset, recognizing catalyst shifts in our lives [...]

TEN years ago today, we adopted a loving, and curious chocolate lab in the Chicagoland suburbs. He was full of energy and not yet one year old. Ranger was originally named Sawyer and had [...]

I really wish you an ever deeper peace. I know peace quite often lives underneath the turmoils and anxieties of our heart and doesn’t always mean inner harmony or emotional tranquility. Peace which God [...]

It’s a beautiful night for a stunning and lingering sunset —and the clouds always produce a more poignant effect. One more sunset and we start moving our 3 kids to college. This spot is [...]

While many survived to the 15 August 1945 liberation in the Asian Pacific Theater, my great-grandfather Pieter Pouwels was one casualty among thousands, and died in a prisoner camp on 9 December 1944. Pieter [...]

Every new school year provides opportunities and changes! This school year will be an interesting and monumental shift for me, with all 3 daughters graduated and in college soon. Today we welcomed 9th grade [...]

One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII — Pablo Neruda (translated by Mark Eisner) Soneto XVII (No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio) No te amo como si fueras rosa de sal, topacio [...]

We thought our neighbor’s house was on fire last night. We drove into the neighborhood after dinner out with our girls, and there was thick pungent smoke everywhere, tangible. A pillar of gray white [...]