Author Archives: faithfullyirreverent

Poll: How did you select godparents for your children? Anecdotally, many people seemed to choose a sibling or close relative. Others honored a “spiritual mentor” by offering the role. Some people took proximity into their discernment and opted against long-distance godparents. Some suggested that distance played no role in their decision-making whatsoever. One couple toldContinue reading “God Grandparents”

Queen Elizabeth II was an icon. She came from a generation of British women who helped win WWII and usher in the modern era. At the age of 21, years before becoming queen, she publicly pledged to serve her country and never wavered from that duty. She was self-sacrificing and dutiful in a way thatContinue reading “Icons”

When my son, Daniel, was less than 2 years-old, he stared down a boy who was 3 or 4 years older than him. For the better part of an hour, I had observed this older child throwing tanbark, taking toys and kicking down sand castles. Daniel was settling himself on top of the slide whenContinue reading “Brave”

Emerging from my air-conditioned office building on a Friday afternoon, I practically skipped outside the door. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping and the sky was a shade of the most brilliant blue. The moment had a cinematic rom-com feeling to it. That is until I fell off the curb. I landed HARDContinue reading “Sprained Ankle”

What others may know as beach reads, I think of palette cleansers. These are the lighthearted, romantic, typically feminine novels that dull the ache of that last round of dystopian chaos that was either read or worse…lived in 2022. Palette cleansers are gentle escapism – significantly less likely to give one a headache than anContinue reading “Palette Cleansers 2022”

Father’s Day and Mother’s Day are what I consider to be the “trip wire” holidays…wonderful when they are brunches, BBQs and rainbows but potentially miserable if a family is estranged, grieving a parent, struggling with infertility or painful for a myriad of other reasons. My own relationship with Father’s Day is complicated. My parents divorcedContinue reading “With a Father’s Heart”

German journalist, Sigrid Grabner, Ph.D. is a prolific author and art historian. Her previous biographies have tackled subjects as varied as Christina of Sweden and Mahatma Gandhi. Her newest work, In the Eye of the Storm: A Biography of Gregory the Great turns her keen eye to one of the great prophets of the 6thContinue reading “In the Eye of the Storm”

“That guy, Jesus, did something like this.” Indeed. I rolled a new pair of socks gently over the man’s ankles and offered him another clean pair for the road. As I gave his foot one last tender squeeze, I said a quiet prayer for him. It was always how I ended my massages. During myContinue reading “Holy Thursday in the Tenderloin”

36,525. That is the number of sunsets and sunrises that my Grandma Frannie experienced as of her 100th birthday earlier this month. My family is consistently blessed by the presence and longevity of my grandmother. She still lives in her own two-story home where she still adeptly manages her daily decisions and financial affairs. TheContinue reading “100 Years Young”

Pizza night is sacred in our house. Pizza night is our Friday night ritual. We gather together after the week – setting aside preoccupations such as my seemingly never-ending rotation of chore lists and my 5 year-old’s concern that his brother will surreptitiously demolish his newly constructed Duplo bridge. My husband will silence his phone.Continue reading “Pizza Night”