by Holly Mohr I woke up grateful and eager for Lent last week. Ash Wednesday couldn’t get here fast enough. (No, this is not normal for me). I spent the early part of the week making a short but meaningful list of Lenten practices I wanted to take on (or at least attempt), in orderContinue reading “The Brood: Brooders Were Made for This Season”
Tag Archives: hope
The Brood: Bad Brains and Great Days
It’s not the pain that bothers me so much as the helplessness. My brain is hijacked. I am disabled. The only thing to do is surrender, but surrendering means letting go. It means leaving my life and my family and my own mind for a time. I hate it.
The Brood: Footballing, or Baseballing, or Something?!
by Holly Mohr Our little brood watched the Super Bowl this year, and I’ll tell you, I was into it. Okay, not like, watching-the-actual-football, or knowing-what-was-happening-at-any-point- in-the-game “into it,” but I didn’t hate that it was on. It was lovely having something special to focus on that brought our family together. Given the radical ageContinue reading “The Brood: Footballing, or Baseballing, or Something?!”
The Brood: Magic
The moment I lit the tree, her whole demeanor changed. “Why, that makes a world of difference!” she exclaimed, her voice clear and strong, delighted for one bright moment before she disappeared into memory again.
The Brood: Happy New Year (Really)!
by Holly Mohr I’m always a little leery of wishing anyone a “Happy New Year” with too, too much excitement, as though we know this year will be better than the last one. The reigning “New Year’s narrative” encourages us to throw last year away, as quickly and thoroughly as possible, as though there isContinue reading “The Brood: Happy New Year (Really)!”
The Brood: Christmas Edition
by Holly Mohr My dad’s face showed up in my dreams, off an on, a couple nights ago. He would just pop in, smiling, then pop back out. It was the earnest smile of my much younger years, the smile he had for me when I was three or four and he was getting readyContinue reading “The Brood: Christmas Edition”
The Brood: Silent Night, Restless Night
My conscious mind never stops running scenarios, trying to use this relatively peaceful time to somehow get ahead of any incoming disaster. I organize and re-organize the house. I make plans for how to earn more, to save more money. When I can’t stay on my feet a moment longer, I restlessly read the news, trying to identify where the next threat is coming from. Even my worries about sleep are part of this…I worry that when the shit goes down again (and how could it not?), I won’t have enough energy, enough focus, enough health to take care of the people I love.
The Brood: Detachment or Despair? A Meditation on Election Day
by Holly Mohr “We are heading toward climate hell, even as we continue to keep our foot on the accelerator,” the NPR reporter flatly intoned, just as I headed into the Armstrong Tunnel, a space that heightens my anxiety even on a normal day. I’d been taking a break from NPR for several weeks, maybeContinue reading “The Brood: Detachment or Despair? A Meditation on Election Day”
The Brood: In the Throes of It
by Holly Mohr I’m having a hard time getting in Brood mood today, which is kind of a funny thing. Our series is predicated on digging into sometimes-uncomfortable territory, but today (for about a week and a half, really), I have just been far too emotionally uncomfortable to talk to you about being emotionally uncomfortable.Continue reading “The Brood: In the Throes of It”
The Brood: Hoping Against Hope
by Holly Mohr For the past two or three weeks, I’ve found myself crying during yoga. Pretty much every time I go in my room, close the door, and let my guard down, I start to feel the things I’ve been putting off for the past year. When I came home from burying myContinue reading “The Brood: Hoping Against Hope”
Sick Pilgrim 