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Debra L. Freeberg

Essays

You Just Don’t Get It

“You just can’t understand.” It frustrated me when my daughter would tell me, “You just don’t get it. You can’t get it.” I remember the day that she was born. My daughter was 23 hours old when she was placed in my arms by her birth mother. A literal waterfall, a sheet of tears, obscured my view. And when I could see again, I marveled at my miracle, this God-granted miracle girl. This act of love. Her birth mother had…
Debra L. Freeberg
January 4, 2017
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Weekends with Maggie

Debra L. Freeberg Lutherans are not supposed to panic in public. I was trying not to. Maggie looked so good in February, I was sure she would stay in this holding pattern I'd concocted in my mind. She is so much worse. She ignores my discomfort. "This is not a mug day. Get out the good china, we're having a proper tea!" During the past two years, every two or three months or so, I'd managed to drive across state…
Debra L. Freeberg
November 1, 2013
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Free to Hate: An American Church Rejoices in Swedish Tsunami Victims

In the January 6 early web edition of Dagens Nyheter, one of Scandinavia's leading newspapers, the headline reads "USA church rejoices in Swedish victims." In the wake of the American presidential elections, when so much has been made about the American citizenry's overwhelming desire to return to morality and family values, one wonders how the world perceives the American populace. As dozens of foreign presses have detailed, much of the world has not been impressed with America's foreign policy ethos…
Debra L. Freeberg
April 16, 2005
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The House on Larson Drive

For months I dreamt about the mottled orange brick ranch perched high atop a hill in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Though modest in size and humble in architecture, it had a spectacular view of the world around it. I wanted to regain that perspective. Mired in disaster, divorce and despair for too many years, I wanted to be able to see for miles, unhampered by barriers and brokenness. Struggling with the rigors of a demanding job and single parenting, depression and…
Debra L. Freeberg
February 15, 2004