Christl liked to tell this story on herself.
A local Catholic church brought in an expert to teach a series of workshops on painting religious icons.
Icons are not considered works of art, and they offer no opportunity for individual expression. Icons are meant to serve as windows into the…
The story of Baucis and Philemon
As a girl, Christl read.
Books became her escape from the rubble of bombed-out Vienna after World War II and from the bombed-out psyches of the adults around her. …
She panted at times as if to give birth again — only this time to deliver herself from this life
By Gerald Grow
After the ultrasound and a visit to the birth center, Christl, who would be 41 at the time of the birth, turned to me and announced, “I’m…
by Gerald Grow
When people use language, they don’t reinvent it every time they want to say something. They use certain recurring forms of communication. These forms work because both the speaker and the listener understand how to use them as a way of thinking. …
Build your day around the rhythms of the day. Forget clock-time, and make time to respond to what the day presents you. The greatest symphony in the world happens as the pre-dawn light rises into day and the sun comes up to the songs of birds. …
This is a story about grieving. Grieving and celebrating.
Christl, my wife of 42 years, died of pancreatic cancer, at home, three weeks after she was diagnosed, refused treatment, and went into hospice care to die on her own terms.
One day, eleven months later, I spent many hours looking…
We were never lost.
As I jotted down a couple of lines that were running through my mind, this poem emerged.
I am often surprised to discover what my creative unconscious has been thinking about.
Happy New Year!
Solstice has appeared in many stories
Around the winter firelight, solstice has appeared in many stories.
In this, the longest night, Baldur is born to Frigga to bring fruitfulness to the earth. Isis gives birth to Horus, the winged Sun. Also born this night is Mithras, the sun of Persia…
By 1981, our son was ready to go to preschool to be with friends, and Christl was ready for a job that would allow her to get out of the house and be around adults.
Christl was so smart and disciplined that she could do almost anything. But in her…
Gerald Grow is a retired journalism professor, cartoonist, and photographer. More at longleaf.net.
