Comfort, holding hands, a prayer or two, a gentle touch – can ease the way forward and out to whatever comes after death. With hope and comfort provided in the process. Well the holidays are finally over! For David and me, the holidays included our wedding anniversary on Dec. 21 – observed over lunch at…

Celebrating the life of Mr. Rogers – even 16 years after his death – his awesome goodness still gives hope to us all. A week or so ago David and I went to Cine Bistro here in Richmond and saw the film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” starring Tom Hanks – one of my…

Movies bleeding gore, death and the macabre. Internet sites that focus on terror and violence. What is happening in our culture that promotes such pornographic excursions into terror and violence? Well – Halloween. When ghosts and goblins stalk the land … or at least our neighborhoods. Usually I opt to be absent from the house…

Like the families depicted in the Bible, we are far from perfect. But through God’s kindness we go on. We should practice that same kindness in our own families. A month or so back, I thought it would be a good idea for David – for us together – to read the saga of King…

Making vows before God … embracing one another and toasting to life – here and beyond. The kind of hope that lay beneath David’s and my vows to each other last December – words that we live by every day. Many of you know that last December I again took marriage vows to love ……

What’s a name? A symbol of who and what we are. The good and the bad within each of us. And more. When I was born, my parents named me Sandra Lee. But when I was 17 and converting to Roman Catholicism, I chose Maria and dropped the Lee. (My dad even went along with…

I’m a pretty affectionate person. Ask my sons; ask my husband; ask my friends. During my residency training – when I was preparing to become a newly minted clinical psychologist – I was warned by a clinical supervisor that not everyone likes to be touched. At the time I found that quite curious, but okay,…

Are we better people underneath than we think we are? The answer may surprise you! I think it was Mark Twain who, after seeing or hearing about the report of his demise in some newspaper or other, famously said something to the effect: “The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated!” Funny, but apparently…

We recently got back from a sad trip indeed … a trip back to my hometown … the kind of trip that most of us take eventually. A trip home to bury a loved one. We recently got back from a sad trip indeed … a trip back to my hometown … the kind of…