Of Flashlights, Woods, Friends, and 150 Steps

A good friend and I recently spent a weekend at the Benedictine monastery in Erie,  Pennsylvania. We each had a “hermitage” of our own in the nearby woods; hers was named for St. Scholastica. It’s known among the sisters as “Stilts.” The first evening, my friend and I talked at “Stilts” until about 10 p.m.,… Continue reading Of Flashlights, Woods, Friends, and 150 Steps

Dying Dreams

One of the most difficult nights of my life occurred just about eight years ago. It was the night that Manny, The Best Dog Who Ever Lived, lost the use of his hind legs. It hadn’t been a great several months. I’d been fired at the end of July, and my search for a