Not for people or dogs — The trip back from the vet was heart breaking. Grandma Anna looked pale and sick. Her old dog Samson lay in the back seat covered with a blanket. Matthew her young grandson drove slowly through the neighborhood. …

Awkward moments of an awkward teenager — It was important to go to the school dance. I wasn’t sure why, but I knew that one fact. I was too young to be in high school and I looked it. I didn’t grasp the simplest social order. The groups of kids that ran around together seemed very random…

I just spent $500.00 to have the vet tell me my cat was constipated. Five Hundred Dollars Constipated I’m not saying that another diagnosis would have been better, BUTT please. Sure, Gertrude is my favorite cat and when she gets upset the results can be horrifying but how much does a one-minute grope and an x-ray cost. …

Carved above the vestibule at the Band of Angels Orphanage Prayer can open many doors, but you never know which door or who will answer. The little girl knelt next to her bed, praying. The big dormitory dwarfed her petite form. Her useless eyes were filled with tears. They fell down her cheeks, invisibly. Marie Francis was blind. The weight…

A small fable to illustrate the true meaning of family. Yasmeen licked the cotton candy with great sadness. She would have gotten this very treat for her son if he were still alive. She grasped the gold necklace that spelled out her name in Arabic, remembering how her husband had presented it to her on their wedding day. The pain…

An Indian elephant tale — Do you know how an elephant’s trunk became the first fire truck? Well, it started this way… It was in Punjab province, India. Magool and his elephant Lucy were walking through the forest, heading toward a large logging camp. Magool was only 12 years old. He loved Lucy. She was an old wise pachyderm and had been partners with Magool’s father previously. She thought of the boy…

Holding it together can be difficult but I’m with you. He is leaving me, after 43 years. He is just drifting away. It isn’t even his fault. He doesn’t even know where he’s going. But I know. I’m the one left behind to hold on to all the old memories. It started off slowly at first. A forgotten word or…

To dream and in that dream, a trip to hell. What is consciousness? Why do people get away with horrible acts? Is karma a rule or an exception? Harold Ross seemed to be a good man. He is slowly dying. Every time he goes to sleep, he gets closer to…