When I internalize cultural messages about the definitions of success or failure—or anything, really—I undermine my own sense of self-worth.

I am ever grateful for the friends who are my family; who have pieced me together each time I’ve fallen apart; who laugh, cry, dream, and age happily by my side.

This piece can be read as a meditation, or used as a litany, in which the congregation responds to each line (in unison), "We ask a blessing on this day." In one way or another, each of you was born of a mother. Because we are human, it's likely that your relationship with that mother is, was, or...

Let us tell the stories of mothers… stories that could be true. Let us tell of warm mothers, soft and round, likely to be found with flour on their nose, and always ready to pour you a glass of milk to go with the cookies on your plate. These mothers are increasingly rare. Let us tell of mothers...

For decades prior to my mother’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, we had suffered a strained relationship born from her alcoholism. When I learned she had Alzheimer’s, my hope for forgiveness and reconciliation drained away, along with her cognitive abilities. But the world of Alzheimer’s teems...

I don't know about you, but I'm a little bit skittish about holidays that seem to have originated with the greeting card people. That's not true, in fact, of Mother's Day....