A Life in Letters – Jamie Hughes

On July 10, I did something I never thought I’d do: I got a tattoo! I’ve always been fascinated by body art, and any time I see someone with ink I admire, I always ask a ton of questions about it. Sure, I ask how much time it took and…

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but most people don’t like a problem without a solution. If something isn’t working correctly, they’d rather fix, alter, or throw it out and start all over than live with “wrongness.” Now, that’s great when it involves garage door openers, burnt-out lightbulbs, or shoddy…

If you have multiple sclerosis, no matter how long you’ve lived with it, you likely know it can be unpredictable. It can hit in weird ways you’re not expecting, even after years of learning how to deal with it. For instance, last Saturday, my family of four and some friends…

One of my favorite moments in Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” involves a stolen fountain pen. If you’ve not read — or better yet, seen — the play, I can’t recommend it enough. It’s a story about making it big in business and losing yourself in the process.

Spring is here, a time we’d normally be out and about getting some sun and recharging our souls after a long winter. I certainly look forward to working in the yard, hiking, having outdoor picnics, and taking the occasional road trip. But this isn’t a typical year, is…

In her poem “In Blackwater Woods,” Mary Oliver concludes with 10 breathtaking lines: “To live in this world/ you must be able/ to do three things:/ to love what is mortal;/ to hold it/ against your bones knowing/ your own life depends on it;/ and, when the time comes…

Next week, I will be celebrating my second “quarantine birthday,” which is both amazing and sad. I honestly had no idea we’d still be dealing with COVID-19 for more than a year, and what a strange and perplexing time it has been. I think the thing that has hit me…

The daffodils are in full bloom. There are leaves on my Japanese red maple tree again. Seeds are going into the garden. Yes, the cruel season known as winter is coming to an end. The world is waking up again, exploding into a riot of color and birdsong otherwise…

For a week, I’ve spent my afternoons painting our enclosed garden. When we built it last spring, the wood was new and lovely, but rain and sun have taken a toll on everything, leaving it dingy and dull. And now that we have a custom-built white shed (courtesy of my…

Last night, as I was grumpily prowling through a pile of overpriced red and white striped hats looking for one that would fit my fifth grader, I asked myself, Why exactly am I doing this again? I already knew the answer. The next day was Read Across America Day,…

I’ve recently been sucked into watching “Blown Away” on Netflix. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s a reality TV show in which 10 master glass artists compete in 10 challenges to win a $60,000 prize and an artist’s residency at the Corning Museum of Glass…

I know quite a few of you are dealing with copious amounts of snow right now, but there is not a speck of white stuff on the ground where I live in Atlanta. And for that, I am grateful. Why? Because I do not like snow. I do not like…

As hard as it is to believe, we’re now nearly a year into this pandemic. Thankfully, two vaccines are currently working their way through the system and into people’s arms in the U.S., and before 2021 is out, perhaps we’ll get back to something resembling normalcy (whatever that is).