These days cry out, as never before, for us to pay attention, so we can move through them and get our joy and pride back.

I go to church every Sunday, which is like going to the gas station once a week and really, really filling up.

I spend most of my time alone, because I so value and thrive in the quiet. Heaven.

Books help us understand who we are and how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die.

I don’t know why life isn’t constructed to be seamless and safe, why we make such glaring mistakes, things fall so short of our expectations, and our hearts get broken and out kids do scary things and our parents get old and don’t always remember to put pants on before they go out for a stroll. I don’t know why it’s not more like it is in the movies, why things don’t come out neatly and lessons can’t be learned when you’re in the mood for learning them, why love and grace often come in such motley packaging.

I am an Aries. Although I do not believe in astrology, I think this is exactly the right sign to have been born under.

I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all it is cracked up to be. But writing is.