by Leah Perrault | Mar 5, 2019
Photo credit: Fr. Darryl Millette Softening is a curious thing. We soften water, counteracting metals and minerals that stain and damage our clothing. We soften edges, to prevent slivers and injuries. We soften butter, to stop it from tearing through bread. So...
by Leah Perrault | Apr 19, 2018
“Do we fly to heaven, Mommy? Or do we climb the stairs?” The words have been swirling around me all week, God’s gift floating out of a chattering, restless mover at Mass. “I would like to know that, my girl,” I whispered, the hallow space in my chest aching. Charlize...
by Leah Perrault | Feb 7, 2018
I love giving birth. It’s a strange thing to love, given the pain it brings. I, however, am a recovering perfectionist, a doer of all things, and a prayer easily distracted. Birth takes me over, and I go, willing and resisting, barefoot, into the heart of it....
by Leah Perrault | Dec 12, 2017
Last night, I removed my sister’s name from the Christmas address list. I was clinging to the letters of her name typed into a cell in a spreadsheet. I pressed the delete key slowly and then moved her children to new lines. Tears streamed down my cheeks. She died...
by Leah Perrault | Aug 24, 2017
I am lost. The weird thing about this lost, however, is that I am lost in the most familiar places – my home, my relationships, my life. One thing has changed, but that one thing has changed everything. Lost is a place too, a place of feeling unsettled, disoriented,...
by Leah Perrault | Jul 25, 2017
Wounds are strange teachers. Ten days ago, I sliced through the tip of my left ring finger trying to pry leftover ice cream cake off the cardboard. (Don’t worry; I assured my inquiring brother-in-law that the cake was unharmed.) The sting was worse than the blood. And...
