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the beauty of an ordinary life

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Tag: marriage

An ordinary marriage.

It is our 22nd summer in Memphis. It is time now, in the midst of a global pandemic, racial reckoning, and massive upheaval, to tell the story of our house. But the story of our house, our home, would be void of meaning without the story of how we got here. And so, to start, … Continue reading An ordinary marriage. →

Jennifer Balink About a boy, About a dog, Among friends, Master of the house 6 Comments June 28, 2020July 2, 2020 31 Minutes

Belonging.

We are on the porch eating dinner, one night just a few weeks ago, at the front-tip edge of our 21st summer together. The days are warm and nights still cool. Our kind of weather. I think of this weather as our season. Our son (who drove his truck, your truck, Henry's truck, to school … Continue reading Belonging. →

Jennifer Balink About a boy, Among friends, Family matters 10 Comments June 16, 2019June 18, 2019 3 Minutes

1

Your truck (Henry's truck), the one you drove to Memphis (an eternity ago), sits on the parking pad behind our house (still with its New Mexico license plates), where it has sat, flat-tired, for a dozen years, neglected. Our son, who used to sit in the bathtub with you making shampoo mohawks and blowing bubbles, … Continue reading 1 →

Jennifer Balink About a boy, Among friends 5 Comments June 15, 2019June 20, 2019 2 Minutes

2

These are, you understand, just inflection points, the ones that shape the arc of my plot. Fact: All of these stories are true. Fiction: These stories are the only truth. This summer, two years ago, is our musical summer, capped at the end with Van Morrison on your 50th birthday. Early in the summer we … Continue reading 2 →

Jennifer Balink About a boy, Among friends 2 Comments June 14, 2019June 18, 2019 1 Minute

3

We are very close. Almost to now. This is the summer, three years ago, when I take a month off, cart the kids to the beach and get sunburned. I sign up for a water aerobics class, and you offer, every day, to play Bill Murray and slip a Baby Ruth in the pristine water … Continue reading 3 →

Jennifer Balink About a boy, Among friends 1 Comment June 13, 2019June 20, 2019 1 Minute

4

This is the summer our dog dies. She was the dog you had been waiting for, the one you encouraged me to wait for when I insisted instead on a quick fix. You found her in a field, abandoned. A show-quality mastiff who had been bred and dumped (or perhaps ran away, escaped a fate … Continue reading 4 →

Jennifer Balink About a boy, Among friends 4 Comments June 13, 2019June 12, 2019 2 Minutes

5

You work all night, and you sleep all day, and I hardly ever see you. I have only a handful of photographs of you from this entire year, all of them taken on a winter's trip to see my sister. This picture of my nephew with you, in your signature hat and coat, on my … Continue reading 5 →

Jennifer Balink About a boy, Among friends, Family matters 2 Comments June 12, 2019June 12, 2019 1 Minute

6

Memory is a kind of fiction. It's the story we tell ourselves, the one we decide is true because we want it to be true. These stories are my memories of you, of us, in our 20 summers living together under the same roof. These stories are my truth. Fact: By this point in our … Continue reading 6 →

Jennifer Balink About a boy, Among friends, Family matters 7 Comments June 12, 2019June 12, 2019 1 Minute

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If you’ve missed out on our last shows, here’s your chance. The spring edition outdoor market (next Saturday, 4/17, 12-5 pm) will be lots of fun and packed with goodies for graduation, Mother’s Day and more. Hope to see you there. Miranda Bavier, Jennifer Balink, Mary-Ellen Kelly, Elizabeth Browne McCoy.
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