Author Archives: janishaag

One short, measly hour,not a special one, just any oldhour, look around and ask, “What would my life bewithout this thing? Withoutthat thing? Or that one?” Without the tree shadingthe window, without the window,without the kitchen sink you’re standing behind,without … Continue reading →

You know how you wake up some mornings, the bad dream running laps in your brain, telling yourself it’s not real, but you carry the hangover of free-floating anxiety in your satchel of woes, which, most days, you can set … Continue reading →

If you believe that you were not born to sing,then you must allow the birds to tutor you, sitting in places where they do, allowing themto feel comfortable enough to vocalize near you in your scary human suit. You will … Continue reading →

Let this be a sign unto you,amazing one: You are enough.You are magic. And yes, embrace your mistakes.And look for the signs because, it turns out, they’re everywhere,if we only have the eyes to see them, messages from the unseen … Continue reading →

Six-year-old Lane calls across the pool,“Mom, watch!”His 11-year-old sister Grace echoes,“Watch ME, Mom!” And at the shaded end of my niece’spool, their Mom watches—this womanwho styles my niece’s hair—alongwith her mother, as my sister and I, old enough to be … Continue reading →

Not now, deeply into the future,preferably when I don’t knowthat it’s coming, lying on the yoga mat in, appropriately,corpse pose after a gentle backyard sessionon a summer day much like this one, Delta breeze susurrating through the sycamore,the distant call … Continue reading →

(On the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America) 1. First, there’s no perfect. Just working toward it,a willingness to improve, to strive for better,for what truly matters. 2. There have … Continue reading →

Watching the enthusiastic ladyferns spread their wings likegreen swans against the fence, I am aware that, with theirseasonal emergence that I donothing to prompt, they have swallowed the rosebush that lives beneath them,I trust that they are sheltering it, rather … Continue reading →

“Crazy bastards,” my father used to say whenhe saw young people doing dangerous things— like riding motorcycles or hot-rodding motorboatson the lake on hot summer days—this from a guy who had famously water skied barefoot in his 20s.“Probably drunk,” he’d … Continue reading →

(for the original BFF, Dr. Susan Lester, upon her retirement as a veterinarian, Nevada City, California) 1. At age 9, sit in a circle on the floor with yourbest friend next door and her younger sisteralong with a cardboard box … Continue reading →