I want to buy an overnight train ticket to somewhere. I will pack boxes of shoes with names like Carnelian and Sapphire and Rose. My hair will be Marilyn blonde, and I will pull it into one of those French Twists I’ve never been able to do. And I will paint my lips in that same “never been able to do” way. I will wear … Continue reading Lost On Sunrise
It is 2:45 pm on July 2nd. I have 90 minutes left to write a memory about my friend Kim, and still make it to the FedEx box before the last pick-up of the day. I could have mailed it. But I waited too long. So now it’s down to the wire. This has to be finished in time to make it to North Dakota … Continue reading Wait…
I sat on the living room floor, hugging the neck of our beloved Chocolate Lab while the vet waited patiently in the kitchen. Moments later, I was nuzzling her soft brown head as she took her last breath. Anyone who has lost a pet knows the heartbreak that comes next. For me, what came next was a spider. I spied her the morning after saying … Continue reading Along Came A Spider
So this morning I woke up before the sun. This doesn’t happen often. As always, I brewed some coffee and came out to my back porch to enjoy the cool morning, listen to the birds, watch the squirrels, and check Facebook and the news to see what I missed overnight. I don’t have to tell you what I saw. You saw it too. And you … Continue reading Western Music
On December 1st, 1993, my coworker Eddie and I delivered a Christmas tree to a single mom in need. For the next three weeks, Eddie and I would harass our fellow Red Lobster servers until they gave us their spare change and extra tips at the end of every shift. Three weeks later, we took that money, along with boxes of donated canned goods and … Continue reading Eddie And The Cruiser
Something happened on August 18, 2019. I don’t know if it was funny or sad or infuriating or even interesting. But apparently it was important enough for me to write about. And then something else happened. I don’t know what that was either, but it was enough of a distraction for me to immediately stop whatever I started writing about. Something also happened on March … Continue reading Untitlement
There once was an extra person who lived here. And she painted her walls black and wrote on them in chalk. And she hung a candelabra where her light was. And there were skulls and guitars and an amp and posters and bobble heads and things I didn’t understand. And one day she decided she wanted a red toilet with a black lid in her … Continue reading My Hole Heart
One of my favorite traditions growing up was “The Stoughton Wave”. After family or friends would come for a visit, we would all gather outside upon their departure to wave goodbye. But this was no ordinary wave. We would head to the sidewalk for maximum viewing distance. We would begin waving madly as they came out of the driveway, and continue as they drove down … Continue reading A Distant Wave
It’s officially bluebonnet season in Texas. This year, there won’t be large gatherings of people on the side of the road.No shots of families in their Sunday Best, grinning from behind hundreds of purple flowers.No children, anxiously posing in fields buzzing with bees.No couples, kissing and laughing in the flowers as Longhorns look on. So I sat on the ground this morning, next to a … Continue reading Lonely Bloom
My situation is like your situation. I am in isolation. And, in the beginning, I thought I would use my time to edit and update some blogs that have been sitting on the shelf, waiting to see the light of day. As I began dusting them off, I realized they were not relevant to what is happening in the world right now. Until last week, … Continue reading Relevant Chicken
