These Things

Paintbrush and Keyboard

On the last day of packing up my childhood home, I rubbed my hand along the molding that held all of the hash marks of our heights through the years. And with the sight of each penciled-in slash, that feeling of a ruler on my crown.

And shoes… shoes are so hard to throw away… Read more...

The Storm Cloud

I’m not sure where we were headed, but we were on a mission. It was clear to both of us that we needed to get somewhere, despite our sore feet and sore backs.

“Storm Cloud.”

“I see it,” I said, looking over my shoulder. “We should head back under… Read more...

Crappy Vacation

An aerial photography of a man in black jacket standing in the middle of the forest

Sometimes, gratitude isn’t so easy to come by.

If you’re having trouble finding it, here’s some advice: take a crappy vacation.

You don’t have to actually go anywhere; just plan it. Plan it in your head.

Where are you staying?

Are you inside or outside?

What ca… Read more...

Me & Holden Caulfield

Field of ears

I just read Catcher in the Rye again.

Funny how different you can see a book the second or third or fourth time you read it.

In high school, as a mixed-race-white-looking-class-individual-child-of-divorce-latchkey-kid, I saw Holden Caulfield as a hero: a justifiably disaffected, per… Read more...

Path to Redemption

Persons raising hands

Redemption only comes to those who are willing to gather the pain they’ve caused

and put it back inside their own body.

It is not a collaborative effort. It is not something to ask for. It is not found nestled neatly into words.

Relief from torment is in the ache.

Look nowhere … Read more...

Go On.

When someone breaks something of ours – a thief cracking our window, a boss changing our schedule, a loved one not showing up — we blame them for disrupting our way of being. We villify them.

And perhaps we are right. Maybe they are the evil in our hero’s quest.

B… Read more...

Never Too Much Love

Foggy window heart

One thing you can never overdo is love.

“Stop loving me so much!” — said no one ever.

Iterating and reiterating love is always welcome.

Even better than that? Finding a new way to love someone, or a new thing to love about them. Or (oh yes!) a new thing to love abo… Read more...

Saying Goodbye to Clé

Closeup photo of assorted color marble ball lot

I’ve had a knot in my stomach since I heard the news.

And then this morning, in that spiritual space between dreaming and waking, I was gifted with this:

Pulling into the driveway on Hope Hill Road. 🙂

What a wonderful place! There were always rows of cars in the driveway, even… Read more...

Cuss Words

Young boy shows cross with fingers - don't touch me

I never was one to care much about cuss words.

I use them in front of my kids.

My main concern is that they impede upon their vocabulary development.

Especially the eff-bomb. That word is a bit too versatile. You can use it 4 times in a single sentence.

But these so-called cuss words… Read more...

The Plight of Pain

Textured backdrop of soft crumpled textile in darkness

I am pain.

I cannot survive in the light

so I scurry into the corners, into the depths of souls,

swimming in guts

where it’s blacker than the darkest night.

And there, I molt and grow, whether I want to or not.

See, that’s the thing about me:

I’m not trying to hurt any… Read more...