Posts by Jennifer Dougan
Holding Summer’s Light as the Sky Turns to Grey
Huge rain rushes in from yesterday’s ninety-degree heat. A grey storm outside turns the sky green. Hot French Press coffee and an Indie band crooning in multi-part harmony set a reflective tone. Halfway through this new journal, the stitching threads line the notebook crease, a straight hem through paper. Halfway through the summer, the season’s…
Read MoreOf Dragons and Gauntlets
He walked in with an orange bearded dragon on his shoulder. The college-student stood at the coffee shop counter, ordering a pastry and a drink, and his lizard perched beside him. Minutes later as he prepared to leave, two women in yoga pants and headbands approached him, their phones out. “Is he real? Can we…
Read MoreFrom Bleachers, to Balls, to Bibles (What’s a Word-Loving Mama to Do?)
Silver metal bleachers shine in the sun, and tap hollow staccatos with each step. Moms and dads in sunglasses call kids closer, and one mom races to scoop a preschooler down from his high perch. “That’s not safe,” she says, slipping her hands under a flower-eye-patched blonde boy’s arm pits, his head and shoulders leaning…
Read MoreThe Shopkeeper’s Secret (and It Impacts You)
“‘I’m here for my rose,’ she’d say.” Mary stopped speaking and pushed her red hair behind an ear. “Each week she came in, this sweet retired school teacher. …There were photos everywhere in her home of her kids. School kids would come back year after year to visit her, even when they were married and…
Read MoreWhen God Pulled the Fire Alarm
Just one glance at the text sent my heart racing. Alarm bells were blaring at our house, but we were half a nation away. On a special once-every-ten-years-vacation to sunny Florida with my husband’s family, we were still rubbing aloe vera salve onto our sun-burned skin when a neighbor in snowy Minnesota contacted us. “Your…
Read MoreOur Bold Dares
It’s audacious and daring actually. What is it about this bold act that says it’ll ever work? We push fingers into dark soil, scooping out vaults. Then with brazen hands we press small brown bulbs into the earth and claim they’ll rise again. Burying them, covering them, we smooth the ground and walk away, with…
Read MoreOn Summer Nights When Adults Are Tempted to Play Hooky Too
September’s twilight creeps green and orange in chill night air. Yellow and pink zinnia flowers stand tall beside rosy sedum. Smoky woodfires scented the end of a kids’ park play date, and now children’s voices chirp loudly from trees. They leap, waving sticks, leaning close to growl make-believe battles. My son races inside to grab…
Read MoreDon’t Blink. Don’t Miss a Moment of the Joy!
Basketballs ricocheted off concrete and clanged against blue chain link. I plucked green grass and bent it methodically in fours, snapping after each bend. “Are you okay?” I had asked her. “Your eyes look sad.” She laughed wryly, surprised, and we started talking more. Four of us sat on a blue blanket, legs outstretched or…
Read MoreLeaning Close to Speak of Betrayal
Night falls in blue twilight and my neighbor’s white blossoms glimmer green in the dusk. My son’s small feet patter back to his room, and a distant car whirs. The pointer finger on my right hand rubs across a smooth right thumb, but it’s all wrong. I’ve been betrayed by my body. Photo Credit: Flickr…
Read MoreOur Best Spring Forward Beauty Truth
He perched on the black armchair, hanging off the right edge. His blonde head hung upside down, arms trailing the cream carpet. “…and then I fought the boss…” Daniel’s words rippled on, describing video game adventures and I tried to pay attention. Photo Credit: Flikr user T. Papadopoulos, Creative Commons cc license Pinching lips shut…
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