Life

The Joy that Accompanies Empty Pockets

by Shawn April 9, 2012
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We walked up Tchoupitoulas Street towards the French Quarter in New Orleans. The sky? Blue cotton candy. The breeze? A cool sheet. The streets? Alive and beautiful and carefree. We walked up Tchoupitoulas Street towards the French Quarter on that day between Good Friday and Easter and I noticed a man sitting with his back [...]

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Like Children Who Build Their Home Among the Graves

by Shawn April 6, 2012
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I sat at the back of the bus on Friday, Good Friday, and my eyes swam in tears as I soaked up the photos of a memorial service for my dear friends’ baby: a willow tree, pink balloons scattered in a blue sky, and a small white box that fit comfortably in one hand. I [...]

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The Return of the Voices in My Head, and the River of Yellow Flowers

by Shawn April 4, 2012
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“No man can be an exile if he remembers that all the world is one city.” -CS Lewis, Till We Have Faces * * * * * The sky over Memphis tonight is cobalt blue, the color of an old bruise, the kind that lingers after a heavy storm. The streets glisten, the cool macadam [...]

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What the Voice in my Head Keeps Saying

by Shawn April 2, 2012
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Tomorrow we leave Nashville. Cozy Nashville with its rolling hills and skyscrapers hiding amongst the forest and so many new friends. Our stay here has felt much like I imagine base camp feels to mountain climbers – the last stop, the last stretch of almost-level ground, the last nervous smiles, and all the while the [...]

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In Which I Admit to Being (Gulp) Wrong

by Shawn March 29, 2012

Maile and I have been taking turns sleeping with Abra at night. The high pollen count here in the outskirts of Nashville have been keeping her up at night, coughing and itching, so one of us sleeps with her in a separate room where she won’t wake everyone up, and the other gets a good [...]

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The Call You Never Want to Get

by Shawn March 28, 2012
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Two or three weeks ago, I called my mom. Maile, the kids, the bus, and I were somewhere in Florida. Maybe Jacksonville. I can’t remember exactly. Within a few seconds of my mom answering, I knew something was wrong. “Shawn, I have some not-so-good news,” she said in a quavery voice reserved for funerals and [...]

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Sam’s Take on Atlanta

by Shawn March 25, 2012
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Saturday night we cruised north on I-75. The highway was a sea of red, and rain streaked the brake lights across the bus’s massive windshield in arcs and splashes. But the traffic charged forward, sweeping us along with it. In the distance, the lights of Atlanta’s skyscrapers rose above the trees like the center of [...]

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