Naming the Animals
I found the video of the lambing to be a bit gross, with the blood and amniotic fluid gushing onto the hay and dirt. I was OK with the elephant birth as long as the sound was off. Two-year-old Clara...
View ArticleRounding the Curtain: Embracing the Senselessness of Grief
I entered the hospital room. She was sitting in a geri-chair looking out the window. The room was stark white with no flowers or cards. The only punctuation to the white was her robe of pink hearts. I...
View ArticleThe Third Day
It had been three days since her sister had been rolled out the front door. Hiding behind the banister at the top of the stairs, Maia had listened as the body of her sister was taken away. The clicks...
View ArticleMihyang Kim: The Enigmatic Lullaby
If we are honest, finding empathy and beauty in the midst of calamity can be a tall order. Pain and tragedy overwhelm individuals and communities on a daily basis, and if we are not already...
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Carved Out
The day after my ex-husband and I separated, I came home and saw all the empty spaces where we used to share life—the matching desks now parted, the picture removed from the wall revealing the marks...
View ArticleLike an Unnamed Woman
Perhaps one of the most famous figures in Western art is the pietà—Mary holding the dead body of her son as she grieves his death.1 In the famous statue by Michelangelo, she seems to be a young woman...
View ArticleFinding Stillness
By the time my husband and I arrived at Paradise to ski with the children, a lenticular cloud had formed over the top of Mount Rainier. These clouds are recognizable from afar as the UFO-shaped...
View ArticleLooking at Family through a Resurrection Lens
We are relational beings, often hurt and healed within the context of relationships. This is clearly revealed in the Christian theological tradition, which understands relationality as the cornerstone...
View ArticleI Stood Up at Your Funeral: A Review of Katie Manning’s 28,065 Nights
Katie Manning, 28,065 Nights (New Orleans, LA: River Glass Books, 2020). The latest offering from Point Loma Nazarene University professor and Whale Road Review editor Katie Manning consists of twenty...
View ArticleMother Mary and a Post-Traumatic Ecclesiology of Grief
In November 2020 it became clear to my husband and me that his mother, Kaye, did not have long to live. After eight years of on-and-off treatment for ovarian cancer, it was now, when we were living...
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