Michelle Martin

June 05, 2025

Get your hands dirty

I complain about being busy as much as the next person. It seems like we all do, like having too much to do is a badge of honor. Like not getting enough rest somehow makes us better people, instead of making us cranky, more susceptible to illness and resistant to learning new things.

May 21, 2025

Holding on and letting go

My children have a hard time letting go of things. I have the basement to prove it. There are boxes and boxes of hockey trophies, art supplies, sweatshirts that will never fit anyone in our family again, school projects from going on 20 years ago and books — so many books.

May 07, 2025

Do not be afraid

Somewhere, I have a picture I took of St. John Paul II. It was from his visit to Chicago in 1979, and I was standing at the south end of Lincoln Park across from the cardinal’s residence when I took it. I was 11 years old, there with my mother and brother and my aunt who lived a few blocks away.

April 24, 2025

Keep it going

During the lesser-known Holy Week ritual of planning for Easter eggs and Easter baskets, my husband showed off his purchases of chocolate bunnies and fruit punch-flavored Peeps.

April 10, 2025

Stuff and nonsense

Every time I leave a place, I take a moment to look around. It’s a habit I first developed when my children were small. We’d go out to breakfast, and when we got up to leave the table, I’d let my husband go ahead with the kids and I’d look over the table, searching among the empty plates and crumpled napkins for stray sippy cups, left-behind coloring books, baby blankets, mittens and hats. You name it, it got left behind.

March 19, 2025

Going back in time

I did something today I hadn’t done for maybe 20 years. I donated blood.

March 06, 2025

Giving thanks for what?

Our youngest daughter was a little disconcerted a couple of weeks ago when her high school musical finished its four-day run.

February 19, 2025

Coat closet

Like most Midwesterners I know, I have multiple winter coats. A wardrobe of coats, even.

February 05, 2025

Take your temperature

Water is life. So says Scripture, and so say scientists who are working to make sure there is enough clean water to support human life on Earth.

January 22, 2025

Telephone

I know I’m dating myself here, but when I was a very young aspiring reporter, one of the lessons mentors and teachers tried to impart was how to make sure you could find a pay phone if you were out covering a breaking story.
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