Good fences make good neighbors, and these were apparently good enough that they had not felt the need for razor wire at the top. I crested the fence, threw myself into the yard beyond, fell, rolled to my feet, and ran with the expectation of being garroted by a taut clothesline. I heard panting, looked down, and saw a gold retriever running at my side, ears flapping. The dog glanced up at me tongue rolling, grinning, as though jazzed by the prospect of an unscheduled play session.

My life would be constrained by the horror and fierce rage that my appearance inspired, but I would know peace as well as fear, tenderness as well as brutality, and even love in a time of cruelty.

Stay low, stay quiet, keep it simple, don't expect too much, enjoy what you have.

The whisper of the dusk is night shedding its husk.

Guilt is a tireless horse. Grief ages into sorrow, and sorrow is an enduring rider.

Change isn't easy. Changing the way you live means changing the way you think, means changing what you believe about life. That's hard.

I just became fascinated with how complex and unlikely the universe is and life is and Catholicism gives me an answer to that.