On the Road
This summer the boys have been schooled in the art of fishing. Aaron’s once-in-a-lifetime best friend, John, somehow got the two younger...
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Patty Ihm
Mar 8, 20233 min read
A Hundred Sunrises
Only through the photograph of a friend did I see the shades of fireball orange, candy pink, and smoky lavender that painted the sky....
Patty Ihm
Feb 18, 20234 min read
I Wish I Had Taken a Picture
The hill at the back of my dad's childhood home separates a modest expanse of grass--a tiny backyard haven where we picked apples from my...
Patty Ihm
Sep 9, 20223 min read
Waiting to Blow
He stands proudly with stiffened shoulders, cheeks puffed as to nearly usurp his smug stone smile. The sparkle in the eyes of this...
Patty Ihm
Jul 31, 20223 min read
Lost in the Dark Gray
He's joyful as he glides like a stunt plane along the cement hills and ramps at the skate park. He's riding a scooter, the...
Patty Ihm
Jun 20, 20223 min read
Digging Up the Mint
It must have been an imposter: leggy, medium green, and without fanfare, it grew in great bunches where there had been mint last year. I...
Patty Ihm
May 9, 20223 min read
Breaking Free
He plotted his escape, because he knew he had to go. Forty years after first reading the beloved story, I am still learning the lessons...
Patty Ihm
Mar 28, 20222 min read
The Color Inside of Me
To be so tied to someone that their hurt, disappointment, and fear mix with what's inside of you and become indiscernible: that must be...
Patty Ihm
Jan 17, 20223 min read
The Best of Me
A shadow flashed across the road ahead of me. As the light changed and I moved through the intersection, there it was: frozen, small...
Patty Ihm
Oct 24, 20212 min read
Behind the Veil of a Beekeeper
I got a new bee suit. It's white, with three layers of mesh and a double zipper system to keep me completely covered and to prevent...
Patty Ihm
Aug 9, 20213 min read
Curtain Call
I have been fighting the demons for a long time…and I’m not speaking of my children. Deep inside of me I know, even when no one else...
Patty Ihm
Jul 16, 20212 min read
Weeds and Stings
You can’t possibly know the glory of the rose’s bloom while the climber lies in waiting. The thatch and nettle push their way in front of...
Patty Ihm
Jun 30, 20213 min read
Sitting on a Phone Book
“Can I say a bad word?” At least he asked permission. “If you really have to, go in the bathroom and yell it into the toilet,” I offered...
Patty Ihm
Apr 9, 20213 min read
Outbuildings
The property was maybe a forty-five minute drive from my grandparents’ house in the St. Louis city limits, but the contrast between the...
Patty Ihm
Mar 5, 20214 min read
No Elderberry Tree
“Mom, why are you crying?” His question came from a place of innocence that I feared was about to fade before my eyes, which could no...
Patty Ihm
Feb 23, 20212 min read
Tie Me to a Tree
The six year old practices every bad word he knows in one long stream, shot directly at my quiet request to put on fresh underwear. Three...
Patty Ihm
Feb 1, 20214 min read
The Secret Room
Once, I cried at a baseball game. It was dark, so no one probably even knew. By some sort of twist in the interpretation of a rule…or...
Patty Ihm
Jan 25, 20213 min read
Bumblefoot and Bread
I brought her in the house to die, but she didn’t. Rosalina is one of my original twelve hens…actually eleven, because Wendell turned out...
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