Photocourtesy RKTKN via Unsplash Bodhgaya, —the holy village where the Buddha attained enlightenment. Her first trip to India, first pilgrimage, first order of the day: find the bodhi tree and bow down. Liberation on her lips, it had made her a beggar, hands clasped at her chest. She knelt dressed in white and pressed her

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Photo courtesy Prchi Palwe via Unsplash Po Cha Be Like Tibetan butter tea is heaven, luxury in a cup, silky like cream-colored satin. Like swallowing a perfect pearl. Flavor like sour and salty and sharp. Milk from humble yaks in the high steep ranges of the Himalayas. The national beverage, common as monks in maroon

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Photo courtesy Sandra Gabriel via Unsplash My parents often dressed me in a too-short cherry-printed dress I had outgrown. Photos of our family at Niagara Falls and there  I am in the cherry dress hanging just below my waist exposing my yellow terry cloth underwear. I wore them or was clothed in them  so often it

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Photo courtesy xandreasw via Unsplash I read a book titled Adult Children of Alcoholic Parents. It described the fear a child feels when they see their parents’ behavior become erratic and aggressive; it addressed their coping behavior to control their parents. As children, they impaled themselves on the sword of self-loathing when they couldn’t extract

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