Janean Baird, my niece, is the oldest child of my brother Gary Thompson and his wife Patty. She’s an artist, writer, and a younger woman of wisdom. You can read more of her work at her blog Turquoise Tangles. Here’s a funny family story about my older sister Julia. This is the first time I’m…
Each year since Julia’s death in a car crash, August 16, 2004 is a day to pause to remember her in a special way. Here’s what I said for Julia’s fifth anniversary. Each year changes my relationship to this date. The last poem of “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” is “Anniversary.” You can listen to it…
For me, family dates are engraved on my heart. March 13th will ever be Julia’s day. Will ever be my sister’s birthday. She lives within us, and curiously, seems to age right along with us. On this birthday, and every birthday, she lives beyond her death day. In 2005 on the first birthday after Julia’s…