Mj Pettengill

In bird time, it was equal to a half hour; in real-time, it was about thirty seconds.

“Anyone who tells a lie has not a pure heart and cannot make a good soup.” — Beethoven

Until meeting Samuel, I was unaware that I had left a vital part of my soul in the heart of that tree.

No selfies or social media posts were available for drumming up prayers or GoFundMe platforms to offer financial support.

Alchemy [ al-kuh-mee ] Any magical power or process that transmutes a common substance, usually of little value, into a great deal of sense.

We were good girls breaking the rules, running around on the beach in the twilight hours in our pajamas.

It’s been so long since you went away, my butterscotch curls are silver and gray.

It isn’t just a sweater; it’s the shelter of him—my father—his care and safety enveloping me as if I were a little girl again.

It seems that in my youth, I discovered the meaning of God; God is music.

Be worth coming home to out of desire, not desperation. Be the firm shelter, not the ruins.

The apple trees in the horse pasture behind the barn of my childhood were abundant with wildly imperfect apples.

An egg about to crack open becomes a favorite moment.

Together, we navigated the enduring darkness born from life—a tree no longer bleeding at the roots.

These ghosts still wander, reminding me of who we were in what seemed to be another lifetime.

Yes, the shadows are menacing, but we are equipped to find our way.

We are a sum of those fragments of ourselves that we may not even remember, and they are often fueling us.

Salem was just a drop in the ocean...

They called her Flossie. I vaguely remember that photo, looking into her sparkling, clear eyes, detecting an air of innocence. Before I...

In that one, undefined moment, the transformation was inevitable. The truth that had been pressing in came forth from the shadows. My...

Of course, we could provide store-bought mittens, but those crafted by hand offer much more warmth and stability.