MUSINGS ON LIFE AND WRITING WITH SARAH BUCKLEITNER
Two months ago, my Grandma Izzy died. She was 97 years old, so it shouldn't necessarily have come as a surprise to me. But it did. It swept me right off my feet. We saw her the weekend prior, and she'd quizzed Jordan about all of the wild animals he'd gotten to see lately at … Continue reading On a Wonderful Woman
Life is not easy. As my dear friend put it this past weekend, it's like a coin with two sides: love and grief. The older I get, and the more I experience, the more I find this to be true. Nothing on this planet is permanent, including our loved ones. The longer we live, the … Continue reading On Expecting the Worst
Today I was unloading the dishwasher, sorting forks and spoons into their rightful places in the silverware tray, not really thinking about anything in particular--maybe about how unloading the dishwasher is such a boring, adult activity--when something about a mug I was holding made me think of my mom. I don't know if it was … Continue reading On Grief and Coffee Mugs
Today, on a walk around the block, I ran into the mom of one of my childhood friends. We had the whole gang with us: Linden putzing along in his red and yellow car, Hollis gnawing the strap of his carrier on my back, and Jordan, hand-in-hand with my mom. The gang We chatted for … Continue reading On Collective Grief
As the wife of a wildlife biologist, I know more about the comings and goings of the whitetail deer in our neighborhood than I'd like. Every time we ease around the corner of the wooded bend in the road near our house, Jordan studies the trees.
You know that annoying song they make you sing in preschool, "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold"? I'm here to report, after 27 years of observation and assessment: the annoying song is right. Old friends are gold. So here's a tribute to one of my oldest and … Continue reading On Old Friends
[I realized recently that most of my posts follow a particular, positive format. In each one, I move from uneducated to educated. Unenlightened to enlightened. Sad to happy. Mournful to hopeful. But not all of life can be a lesson. And not all of life has a happy ending. This post is one that I’ve … Continue reading On Remembering My Mom
When I was growing up, I loved to ask my parents questions about their lives. I was curious about everything: how they'd met. What adventures they'd gone on before we were born. If they knew they'd get married the first time they laid eyes on each other. Mostly, I was fascinated by their stories. But … Continue reading On the best day of my life
I am sad. It pours out of me in gasps and chokes, a geyser of emotion too strong to stopper up. Each year it lies in wait. Quiet, tame. Masked by boredom with the details, the mundanity of every day life. And then, as his tires crunch gravel outside the window, and the door closes solidly … Continue reading On Goodbyes
Alone. It's a weighty concept, one packed with loneliness and independence and freedom. It means handling problems that arise all by yourself. Bearing life's weight on your own back. But with that independence comes freedom from another person's opinions and needs. It means living your life exactly the way you want to live it, unrestrained … Continue reading The Merits of Being Alone
Feathery Thoughts 