347/365 The Artist and His Wife

One New Years Eve I accompanied friends to the home of a couple I didn’t know. While others drank and gazed at the city lights, I drank in the sculptures, paintings, and rugs, discovering the importance of living with art.

346/365 Donovan

He aspirated meconium before birth and was hospitalized three hours away. In a medically-induced coma, his tiny body seemed no match for the intense treatment. But here he is at two, running around, asking for a “kayak” (ChapStick) for Christmas.

343/365 Michael

My best friend’s husband; she chose well. Warm, super-bright, hilariously funny, and so good at what he does—both parents and children would agree. When my daughter died he took my call. I still remember the pain in his voice.

342/365 Loretta

We were teenage friends in the same crowd, doing everything together. In our fifties, we laughed about everything we had to do in our efforts to stay healthy and strong. It was our last conversation. Within months she was gone.

341/365 Our Lamaze Instructor

Joe and I laughed about the way she held up two fingers and swooped them to demonstrate internal exams (easy for him to laugh!). But we listened to her every word, and applied what we learned. And we were grateful.

340/365 Nurse A.

She seemed like a military nurse to me—not that I’ve ever known one. Tough, competent, and all business… I vividly remember two things: the rumor that she was the doctor’s mistress, and those white knee-highs emphasizing her skinny legs.

339/365 Animals We Loved and Lost

The dogs: devoted Thunder, grateful Music, patient Thor, mischievous Thistle, happy Poppy, hilarious Folly, sweet Holly, brave Turpie, kind Kismet. The cats: Grimmy, Morgan, Puma, Honcho, Houdini, Nocci, Baby, Barni, Eve, Niño, Cyclone, Mia, Val, Minnie, Mystic. My Christmas angels.

338/365 Bev and Nick

If I were to build a house, it would look like theirs: wood and glass and natural materials. And I would fill it with fiddles and banjos, happy people, wine and song, the way they do at the Winter Solstice.

337/365 Dave

He and his girlfriend broke up, but he misses her young daughter terribly and she feels the same. “He was supposed to walk me down the aisle,” she says. “I was supposed to walk her down the aisle,” he says.

336/365 Celine

She was absolutely brilliant, and absolutely psychotic. She set herself up as a counseling therapist. Her devoted clients recognized the first quality instantly; it took them a little longer to discover the second. But you can be sure they did.