What Matters Most
The Korean-language edition of my mother’s 1960 debut The Thinking Book was what finally did me in. I sat on the floor with various foreign versions of her books heaped all a
Bonus Time
Tirah the tabby, the last cat standing from the trio we enjoyed for 15 years, was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in August 2020. At the time, the doctors gave her six to 12 months.
‘The Remembering’ is Here
The Remembering: Reflections on Love, Art, Faith, Heroes, Grief and Baseball—on sale now—grew out of a conversation that began right here. So the first thing to say again today
The Book I Was Meant to Write
“This isn’t the book I meant to write… but apparently it’s the book I was meant to write.” That was the one fresh line I had solidly in mind when I sat down over the summ
Hybrid Vigor and Other Matters
My mother used the term “hybrid vigor” more than once over the years in a context that would be considered cringeworthy today. That said, her intentions were good, and her poin
You Did This (Thanks)
Seriously: you did this. And I’m so glad you did. You did it by making it clear that I haven’t in fact been shouting into the hurricane for the past four years, that the essays
The Most Important Work
Two years ago, the Monday after a job I had loved for more than a decade disappeared on me, I posted a photo of Karen and me at home with our grandchildren Nathan and Emma. The cap
The Remembering
I don’t remember when it was that I began to spend so much time remembering. This is in part because memory is cumulative and I’ve somehow managed to accumulate—no, that can
Absent Friends
It might be the most 2020 sentiment of all: I miss my friend. Lucca always felt like an old soul, even when his body was young. Maybe it was the eyes, big yellow saucers on his rem
Find Your Way Back
The black and white image has an iconic quality to it. The father leans in, embracing his adult son with both arms, turning slightly away from the camera to plant a kiss on his son