MSI Press Blog

  Shane suffered from migraines for a few years. It might have been a lifelong problem, but he was able to nip it in the bud, thanks to my own experience with migraines. In 1980, I took a trip down the stairs -- on my back. Hurrying to get socks for Shane, who was ready for school, except for being sockless, I slipped and literally bounced down the stairs, hitting the edge of each, and ending up crumpled at the bottom of the stairs, on the cement floor. I felt myself becoming woozy. I was going to faint -- but I could not allow myself to do that. Doah was upstairs, alone, in his sit-up bed, trached. If his trach tube clogged, I had to be nearby to unclog it, or he would die. So, I pulled myself back up, on my stomach. I could not stand up. I called the ambulance and long story short, the doctors determined I had a T5 compression fracture. Nearly immediately I began to experience multi-day migraines. The doctor prescribed medication, but before I had a chance to take it, I had learn...

On Donnie's bucket list since he was a child was hiking the entire length of the AT. Those who did so were called thru-hikers. Donnie aimed one day to be a thru-hiker. One day came after moving to Washington DC, where I had just landed a new job and Donnie was between jobs, Perfect time to hike the trail.  Shane at the time was ten, four years ahead in school, healthy, and strong. He had had a tentative relationships with Donnie, mainly bcause Donnie was big, strong, and imposing, with a bushy beard and deep voice. But, yes, he wanted to hike the trail with his Dad. The school agreed to let him have the time off (six months was the typical hiking time) since he was so far ahead and they did not know what to do with him, anyway. Thanks to his forestry training and days working for the US Forest Service, Donnie knew all the forest lore needed for a safe trip. He also knew what supplies were needed for a comfortable trip. So, off went father and son to the local version of LL Bean and...

  Precerpt (excerpt from book prior to publication):  Raising God's Rainbow Makers  (Mahlou)   I once thought of Shane as my most “ordinary” child. He was a late walker, a late talker, and content to observe the world quietly. But when he began reading at 23 months—likely earlier, if I’m honest—I had to revise that assumption. He wasn’t slow. He was simply unfolding on his own timeline. When the fall semester began in 1980, Shane had just turned three. I was deep into my doctoral work at the university, which had a well-regarded lab school with a preschool program. Perfect, I thought. Lizzie was in elementary school, Noelle was thriving in a special needs preschool, and Shane had spent the previous year in a different center alongside her. This setup would be convenient: drop Shane off, climb the hill to my classes, and reunite at day’s end. On his first day, we parked in the graduate student lot and counted the 100 stairs up to the lab school together. Shane knew ...