ImageCredit...Brian Rea ‘Doing’ Nice Sitting between my little brothers at church, I would stretch out my arms beside me, palms up.
Our unspoken sibling sign to “do nice.” A term I coined because every night our mom — a strong single mother of four — would lull us to sleep with soft tickles along our necks and backs.
It felt nice. In our pew, my brothers would “do nice” along my hands and forearms, sometimes with chubby toddler fingers, other times driving the dinky toy cars they had snuck in their pockets.
Of all the sacred rituals at church, this one was my favorite. — Natasha Chiam Changing Mimi’s Mind “Mimi,” I said, mouth full of Cheerios. “They’re legalizing gay marriage in your state.” At 14, I was proud to know this.