All Them Moons

Three clothespins on clothesline

As I take in the trash cans for the billionth time, a general malaise washes over me, and I wonder if it’s this moment in time we’re in.

Uncertainty, everyone says. What’s next? And the people in the control tower tell us, once again, to hold on while the ship go… Read more...

we be illin’

Courage

It was feminists who had the courage to diagnose the world around them, to take the glaring light that was shining on them and turn it around to blind their accusers.

“We are not the problem,” they said, tired of being labeled anxious, depressed, hysterical. “We … Read more...

New Constellations

Constellation in starry sky

One of my best friends from high school once pointed out how I like to think about my thoughts.

He’s right. I like to think about my memories too. And in both cases, I often misinterpret and misremember. I’m often wrong.

But, as it turns out, that’s not a bad thin… Read more...

2 Stones, 1 Dance

I’ve had to limit my dog walks to the nearest block. Ziggy’s getting older, and the three hills we used to do together are too much for him now.

So I’m treading a path that I’m getting to know quite well.

There’s one corner where the intersection is o… Read more...

Layovers & Empty Glasses

Fluid pouring in pint glass

We tend to strive for the other side of our achievements.

A clean in-box
An empty desk
The celebration after the speech
The exhale after the test

But then, we get there, to the other side, and after the euphoria subsides, we tend to resent the emptiness and crave the clutter again.

In… Read more...

The Right Metric

I was moping around the house, half-sick and taking stock of all of the things I should have been doing but wasn’t.

Clean off the bookshelf
Leaky showerhead
Touch-up paint for the door trim
Laundry

“Can we read tonight, Daddy?”

Hazel’s to-do list is a mile long … Read more...

Lucky Me, Crying Babies

Close up shot of a boy

Southwest. Seat 22A.

That’s the one I pick. I wanted a window seat. I was feeling reflective and drowsy — it was late evening — and I was hoping for a window, so as to not be disturbed by bathroom requests and the rustling of snack bags at snack giveaway.

I pick a… Read more...

Mid-Life Crisis

I really hate this term.

I prefer a different phrase for something so inevitable that happens to all of us at the same point in our timelines.

Doesn’t it make sense that halfway through our lives we’re going to self-evaluate?

Just because we take the time to recognize th… Read more...

Two Prisoners

Sunset over an Australian Beach

I don’t get get. How can you smile in here?

Because smiling is better than frowning.

But we’re locked in this room all day and beaten and tortured at night. We’re fed the same rotten food every day. We are ridiculed and yelled at. We are forgotten.

This is all trueRead more...

Anxiety

Grayscale photo of chair inside the establishment

Anxiety is a trapped THOUGHT in a straight jacket banging against the walls of your mind, trying to get out.

It’s relentless, constantly moving, and doesn’t care what time it is.

When the outside world gets quiet, the banging and slamming and SCREAMING get louder.

The mo… Read more...