My mothering needed a tad more Mother Theresa and a lot less Lizzy Borden.

I had been running as fast as I could for all of my adult life. A person can’t listen effectively while running. A running mother is not able to pick up clues. She is not able to let go of her own agenda long enough to stop and listen.

An angry woman is a bitch. An angry man is strong, whereas, a sad man or a fearful man is a wimp. A sad or fearful woman is frail.

We teach what we need to learn. And we teach it until we get it.

I slid down in the seat and began to weep. I wept for her, for me, but mostly because the siren call of my first big story with a yellow border around it was more powerful than the call of fatherhood.

The last 18 months of planning have strengthened this community and built relationships between different groups that didn't exist before. In that way, we feel like we've already succeeded in bringing people together.