What Do I Wear? At the bottom of Snoqualmie Falls in Washington State, there’s a jungly showcase—lush towers of green. Bottom to top, seamless, monochromatic, intricately adorned trees dressed by Nature’s Tailor. Trunk after trunk bear tangled arms and fingers that reach out one to another in majestic hand-holding. Many engaged in a … Read more
I hear the whirlwind whip, the pummeling, relentless rain, and the sudden, extended chime on my phone: the National Weather Service warning me of flash flooding. It’s been “flooding” for a while over here, guys. Maybe where you are, too. I look back down at my computer and re-read the two quotes I’ve … Read more
“Grief turns out to be a place none of us know until we reach it. We anticipate (we know) that someone close to us could die, but we do not look beyond the few days or weeks that immediately follow such an imagined death. We misconstrue the nature of even those few days or weeks. … Read more
It’s that thing where you read a random quote and you so completely identify with it you say, This is me—I embody these words. This quote tells my story and my state in just one, razor-sharp, spot-on, succinct, nailed-it line. Metaphorically, I slapped this name tag on my New Year’s Eve pajamas by posting it … Read more
Home for Christmas A film that covers three days where scenes are sequenced backward and the story unfolds in reverse, ala “Memento:” Christmas Eve, 2022, we were on the phone with a funeral home making arrangements. The day before that, I was sitting at my dad’s kitchen table playing Rummikub with him when we … Read more
This L.R. Knost quote is a powerful and freeing truth bomb. I’ve lived this way. Not that life had been easy—because it never has been—but noticing beauty had always been easy and routine for me. Underneath a cape, maybe I thought it was a superpower. Now I consider there was perhaps a sort of arrogant … Read more
Surprise Gift on Dispirit Airlines: The Bickertons Sometimes a gift is wrapped in a prickly porcupine. Or a hedgehog. As a rule, I get those two mixed up. Maybe the Bickertons were one of each, which might explain their combative, openly caustic relationship. The Hatfields and McCoys hook up. I was on the aisle, … Read more
But Charlie Brown, it’s Thanksgiving It was a very low moment during our free stay at the Residence Inn by Marriott. The feels: Okay, imagine Lucy and Charlie Brown. Lucy has the football. Charlie Brown wants to trust Lucy. Lucy invariably pulls the cruel gag. I heard the chirp and looked at my phone. … Read more
Patty at the CVS At this point, the front-of-the-store cashier, Patty, had thanked me a least four times for my patience. I have to admit, she seemed impressed. I wanted to tell her that after you bury a child, things like waiting too long in a store are hollow. I wouldn’t say I’m patient, … Read more
