Marilyngardner5

LATEST ARTICLES ( 1127 )

• Dear Dad, I Think You Would Have Loved Mom’s Birthday….

  Dear Dad, Soon after you died, I began planning Mom's 90th Birthday. As I planned, I would periodically panic - something seemed to be missing. Now I know that... Read more

  Posted on 10 July 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• On Patriotic Parfaits and Competing Loyalties

  

  The picture shows a perfect patriotic parfait: blue jello, white whipped cream, red strawberries. Above the perfect parfait was a sign that read "Patriotic... Read more

  Posted on 03 July 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• An East-West Conversation

  

  "So - you're parents chose your husband for you." The women speaking to me was not posing a question; she was making a statement. I took a breath, not sure of... Read more

  Posted on 28 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• An Old Love

  

  Every night before they went to sleep, my dad would kiss my mom. Even during his final month of life, when he was feeling weaker by the day, the last thing my... Read more

  Posted on 26 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Amphibians, Chameleons, and Cross Cultural Kids

  

  "But those people who are fishes out of water were often the most vibrant ones in the room. I've begun to recognize a social type, the Amphibians - people who... Read more

  Posted on 23 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Hanging Our Hearts Around the Globe

  

  Through all the travel and all the moves, I've hung my heart a lot of places around the globe. But none is so special as Pakistan. "Exile is strangely... Read more

  Posted on 19 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Forgiveness Sunday and Housecleaning My Soul

  

  "We do not travel the road of Lent as isolated individuals but as members of a family. Our asceticism and fasting should not separate us from others, but... Read more

  Posted on 19 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• A Fog of Tragedy

  

  There is a fog over the Charles River. While the sun is trying to burn through the mist, the fog is heavy and solid. I wonder if this is what it is like for... Read more

  Posted on 15 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• A Valentine’s Day Warning: Don’t Let Corporate America Dictate What Love Is

  Happy Valentine's Day! I have mixed feelings about the day, but there's one thing I know. It is far too easy to let corporate America dictate what love is to th... Read more

  Posted on 14 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• No Better Place Than This…

  

  "Third culture kids, immigrants, refugees, foreigners." "We find each other in unlikely spaces. In the shared experience of other, we find belonging and rest,... Read more

  Posted on 13 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• How Do You Draw Mercy?

  

  If you were asked to draw a picture of mercy what would you draw? How would you take the tools of pencil and paper and use them to craft a concept like mercy?... Read more

  Posted on 12 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Last Battle as Lenten Reading

  

  It's a grey, rainy Sunday. The bare trees outside accentuate the bleak weather. Slush and ice mark the sidewalk and street as if saying to me "It is, after... Read more

  Posted on 11 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• A Life Overseas – Creating Place

  

  I'm at A Life Overseas today talking about creating a sense of place and home. I would love it if you joined me! In recent years, authors have released a... Read more

  Posted on 07 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Airports – Spaces Between Goodbye & Hello

  

  I love airports. Whether they are small regional airports in the middle of Pakistan or large, metropolitan mega centers of the world - I love them. I find that... Read more

  Posted on 01 February 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Learning Our Enemy’s Stories

  

  "An Irish proverb says, 'It is in the shelter of each other that the people live.' We can give shelter to each other by telling stories of what it means to be... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• This is 58

  

  It's my birthday. One week ago I woke up in a foul mood. It was a mood rife with I hate life and life hates me. I hated who i had been; I hated who I was; I... Read more

  Posted on 27 January 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Holy Work of Grieving

  

  "Why must holy places be dark places?"* Two days ago, my friend's dad died. In twenty first century vernacular - she "lost" her dad. "Lost" is such a silly thin... Read more

  Posted on 25 January 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• A Morning Walk and Being a Flâneur

  

  A few years ago, Rachel Pieh Jones did a blog series called Let's Go Flaneuring. The series was based on a French word a word that was popular in nineteenth... Read more

  Posted on 24 January 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• A Shared Umbrella

  

  The insistent ring of the alarm. Heavy eyes, still swollen partially shut with sleep. Awareness that it is Tuesday, and I must wake up. The slow methodical... Read more

  Posted on 23 January 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Embracing the Sacred in the Ordinary

  

  I wake early after a holiday weekend. It is dark and cold outside. I shiver, pulling my sky-blue, fluffy bathrobe around me. "I can do this" I think to... Read more

  Posted on 16 January 2018 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION