Happy Birthday, Jessica!
For my beautiful daughter —
Thank you for teaching me the meaning of joy.
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After the diagnosis
In the blog comments on Rethinking what you believe, a writer, Rebecca, says, “With the initial wound of the TSC [tuberous sclerosis complex] diagnosis still fresh for us, I have shied away from examining any belief. Because, frankly, anything I have ever believed about this world now seems a fallacy.” When Jessica was born, I…
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We are sitting on the porch, Jessica and I, watching the fireflies. We do this every summer night, poignant for me, a happy tradition for her. Last year, at this time, the neurosurgeon was telling us about an unexpected finding on Jessica’s MRI and proposing what sounded to me then, and still does, like a…
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Every other Thursday evening, I bring Jessica to the library so we can listen to the storyteller. Miss Linda is a gentle woman of late middle age, with the quietly expressive voice of an experienced kindergarten teacher. Though all of the other children who come to listen are much younger, Jessica doesn’t seem to notice or…
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Jessica is scheduled for a procedure in the morning. Routine, in its way, but nothing is ever routine with her anymore. If it ever was. You used to think it would get easier. But it doesn’t. You get understanding, yes, and you know what to do and where to stand, and you long ago made…
A promise
Last week I was accused of being incapable of sustained seriousness, which is, as they say, a true fact. I have always felt that life is fundamentally absurd, and I like to have a good laugh at it. (Not that I don’t have deep thoughts. Just that usually they go away after a while.)…
