I spent this past weekend at the beach. I love being near the ocean. I like walking near water. I think differently when I’m near the water. It was a nice, but all too short, getaway. I snapped a decent picture on Sunday morning before the beach was crowded – when the only people on…
Category: Life
The View from Out Here
Being sick got the best of me these past few days. On Sunday, I wrote that I should do some chores and send some poems out for publication. I managed to find the dead mouse, throw some things away, and run the vacuum. By the time I was done, I was in a cold sweat…
The Long and Short of My Tiny Anxieties
I get anxious about things. Not super anxious, but anxious. I get anxious about going to new places or not being on time. I get anxious about leaving. I get anxious about trying things I haven’t done before or things I’m not good at (dancing, golf, roller skating) – especially if people are watching. I…
Unsettled and Under the Weather
Today’s post (Saturday morning) is brought to you by the letters u, g, g, g, h, h, and the number 45 – as in for a solid 45 minutes, I was paralyzed with indecision and feeling a whole lot of uggghh. For starters, I’m feeling a little sick. It’s that scratchy throat, stuffy nose, something…
The Middle of the Day
Nothing happens in the middle of the day. People talk about being a morning person or a night person, but I never hear anyone say, “I’m a solid 11 – 4 type of guy.” “I’ll take a quality 1:37 pm on a Tuesday over anything else.” I don’t know, maybe there’s a missed opportunity in…
Chemistry and Stars
The text conversation began … “I wanted to match with you first and tell you that your first date description gave me a little bit of the goosebumps because it’s been a while since I’ve had that kind of a first date.” Over the July 4th holiday weekend we went out. We had a good…
Meditation on the Morning Sun
The morning sun is a two-bit player in a scene where the clouds, dressed in pauper grays, shuffle across the stage with lowered heads. Except, that’s not really right, and the scene keeps shifting. I tried to write about it…. how many ways might I describe the sun, what verbs could be attached to it?…
Two Weeks of Contemplation
Last week I was asked if I would be interested in a job with my old team. I was flattered. I have tremendous respect for my former colleagues – I really liked working with them. They are some of the best people I’ve ever worked with. The organization is growing and doing lots of good…
Morning Punctuation
I don’t say this enough, much less think it, but I am thankful for the small moments of splendor and wonder that punctuate my days. Em dashes and ellipses that are more about pauses and parenthetical asides than they are omissions and deletions. The sky this morning has all the makings of a painting… stripped…
Swimming Upstream
On Tuesday, I went to the bank. The teller said hello, asked me how my day was. This was a work trip – I make deposits at this bank almost every week. I asked her how her day was and she replied with that half-joking voice of dread we’ve all come to recognize in our…
Morning, Noon, and Night
Morning: Hunger It’s early. The sky is starting to show the first pinks of light. My view of the horizon is blocked by trees and I’m tempted to run out to a field where I can see all the colors of dawn. I’m hungry – enough so that my stomach feels…. I can’t figure out…
Wasting Their Sweetness (and Resenting It)
Expectations are resentments under construction. -Anne Lamott A few weeks ago, I sent a few poems off to a friend for some feedback. I’m not sure why. In my mind, I feel like I’m at a crossroads of sorts. I don’t really need someone to tell me to keep at it, but I kinda want…