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You’d think by the time an issue of Angels on Earth comes out in print, I would have seen enough of it. Think again. It’s always a treat for me to read a new issue like a “real reader” gets to.

Linda (not her real name) leaned forward conspiratorially over her coffee. “Hey, have you heard about Barbara?” she asked. My gossip alarm clamored wildly. I sent up an emergency prayer: Holy Spirit, guard my heart and guide my lips! It was going to be a full 90 minutes before Linda’s daughter and mine emerged from their ballet audition, and the time suddenly stretched out before me like an endless minefield.

Margaret was 90 years old and no longer able to stay alone in her own home. She had lived in the same small apartment for more than 50 years and was none too happy at being told it was no longer safe for her to do so.

It was a strange story Lin Backman had heard from her parents when she was younger. On the day she was officially adopted, from the town of Semarang, on the northern coast of Java, Indonesia, her new parents hailed a taxi cab in front of the orphanage. As they got in, the taxi driver turned to them and asked, “What about the other one, the sister?”

It’s five weeks into the New Year. How are you doing with your resolutions? If you’ve stalled on Resolution Road, don’t feel bad. It’s common. There’s been a definite drop-off in attendance at my gym compared to the first week in January. I noticed it last night in spin class—there were actually a few empty bikes.

Valentine’s Day will be bittersweet for me this year. It marks the first anniversary, minus a few hours, of my dad’s death.

Last week I dropped off my daughter at her dance studio and noticed on the table in the waiting area a book that’s climbed the bestseller lists in recent months: Heaven Is for Real, by Todd Burpo.