After promoting my friend Signe Wilkinson last blog post, she repaid the favor by sending me this challenge from New York Post writer Ralph Peters:Please, educate me: In over 5,000 years of more or less recorded history, how many tyrannies have been overthrown by noble sentiments? How many genocides have been averted by reasonable discussions? How many wars have been prevented by Quakers?“Maybe your blogger fan base would like to mull on this one,” wrote Signe, who later said that most of the other Quakers she sent this to “reacted as if I'd dropped radio active waste on their toes.”Well, I’m on a plane that was just diverted from Philadelphia to Raleigh/Durham, so I have a few spare minutes to ponder Peters’ questions. I couldn’t [...]

I am basking in the warm glow of community and friendship this week. In the aftermath of Gathering, it has been nice connecting (online and in person) with people I met there. Natural Mom—an online friend who came to my parenting interest group—wrote a wonderful post about how supported she felt there with two children, one of whom had to visit the emergency room. There is nothing like community.My good feeling about community has continued through the week. Tuesday night I had the second meeting of my support/anchor committee. (This is a Quaker tradition for people who often travel or lead workshops to make sure they are grounded, supported, and held accountable.) I was touched by the effort it took for five women who live [...]

For those of you who don’t know, FGC Gathering is an annual week of Quaker worship, fun and learning that takes place in a different spot every summer. This year it was in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a very reasonable train ride from Philadelphia, which my son and I took, along with scores of other Quakers, while my daughter spent her first week at sleep over camp and my husband stayed home with the dog. My son and I arrived home last night after a very full week of multigenerational community. It’s hard to know where to start to blog about it—I heard so many interesting speakers and had so many experiences, so I’ll just share a few that stand out.One highlight was the Tribe1 performance on [...]

It's been a wonderful week, visiting three different groups of friends, catching up on news, reviewing the year, enjoying nature. From northern Pennsylvania we went to the Finger Lakes, to the clear, cold waters of Skaneateles (pronounced Skinny-atlas). I only mustered the courage to go swimming twice. (Ice water is not my favorite habitat.) My children, of course, felt differently. They have plunged into everything with gusto. My vegetarian, animal-rights-supporting daughter even caught an impressive bass when I wasn't looking. My son has ventured further in the kayak this year, confirming what I wrote last week about the importance of giving them freedom in nature.I had to push out of my mind the fact that I would have a long To-do list when I arrived [...]

It’s our first full day of vacation away on an old estate that includes an overgrown orchard, a straw bale greenhouse with a grass roof, and a pond. We’re visiting the family we hung out when the girls were babies, and my friend Melissa and I traded a few hours of babysitting so we could each get some writing time. Now, Melissa lives in the country, and between chats and cups of teas, she and I can write simultaneously as our eleven year-old-girls and nine-year-old boys invent skits and plays to amuse themselves. I had to prevent a jousting match, but otherwise they seem quite safe with minimal supervision. The kids even slept alone in a tent last night, while the adults took the house.In [...]

After years of plodding along with my writing, there are suddenly bits of exciting news. My goal had been to complete a draft of my book by the time school got out, and I am happy to report that I did that and mailed it off Saturday! I’m also happy to say that the Pendle Hill Pamphlet I wrote on parenting as a spiritual journey just came out. It’s so new I haven’t actually seen it yet, but people at Pendle Hill say they have, and I found the picture on the web. Anyone who is interested can buy it for $5 from Pendle Hill. (Chestnut Hillers: You can spare the shipping. I plan to bring some to meeting and part of the proceeds to [...]

I’ve been coming to appreciate beauty as a spiritual path, as something that brings people joy and an appreciation of God. However you define feeling “spiritual”—I think of it as the realization of being connected to something greater than ourselves—people find that feeling in different places. I don’t just mean that some people find it in church, while others find it in the meetinghouse or the mosque, though that is also true. I mean that even within traditions people are touched most deeply by different things: scripture, service, solitude, community, silence, music… I’m belatedly realizing that for some people beauty is an important path to transcendence, no matter what their faith background. Part of what sparked this line of thinking was listening to a friend, [...]

I used to keep a gratitude journal, a place to record those little blessings that come each day, but which are easy to overlook. Here are a few recent ones that I don't want to forget:Amtrak, which has been pleasant and prompt the four times I've taken it in the last week, and New York City, which I visited yesterday. I had a lovely lunch in the West Village with my Tarcher editor and my agent. I appreciated good food, good conversation, and a sense that my book is moving forward. Even in the rain, I love walking around Manhattan. Speaking of rain, it passed over the children's spring concert, which for the first time was held outside. The Pre-K and Kindergarten had collaborated on [...]

I know it’s a cliché, but be careful what you wish for. I have been fantasizing about getting a Prius lately, mostly so I’ll feel less guilty for all the driving I do, but it didn’t seem justifiable with two cars working. The Toyota Camry, which is the car I primarily drove, had 103,000 miles on it, not to mention a few minor dents and a back seat spaghetti sauce stain a foot in diameter, which is to say it looked like it had some life left in it, but not much resale value. I actually stopped by a Toyota showroom on Thursday, while the Camry was getting an inspection and a new tire next door, but told the salesman my interest in the Prius [...]