For once, there are a great many things in my life I’d rather not discuss. I don’t know how to describe the vast relational distance between my heart and anyone else’s. I can say it’s been a convergence of deluges from the past, present, and future. Again and again, I tire of explaining the same disappointments. I love people whose...
Read MoreThings that happened over 3 of 16 days I get with my child between summer camps and state lines. (A letter from/to home in list form)
– Spilled red chile iced coffee in my lap in Gallup. – Had a pit bull sleep next to me all night, farting. – Saw a coyote. – Wrote on a receipt at a bar. – Saw a dog ring a doorbell. – Saw a dog willingly jump in a stroller for a ride. – Drove through 10% visibility in a monsoon on the highway near Leupp. –...
Read MoreSnaggletooth Summer
I wanted the loose days of yore, but it’s been a bit of a snaggletooth summer, imperfect and not letting loose in the ways I would like it to. My son will spend nearly a third of it away. Camp and rivers and songs and memories that don’t include me. Which is, of course, exactly what I want for him and exactly what hurts a little. I wanted summer to cut...
Read MoreSpring Break, By Hand (Mostly)
This spring break, we decided on a loose theme: old-fashioned toys. Just a tilt, really. A mother’s attempt to pass the increasingly cyphoned-out time by hand. A deck of cards. A backyard trampoline. A jump rope. And one very modern electronic toy, immediately sacrificed to a Ponderosa. The stick flip is a small handheld game that beeps and keeps track of...
Read MoreNurse Marinate
After a year of borrowed addresses, this Christmas comes with nothing addressed to me. Not even a ghost of Christmas past asking for a wish list. Not to worry, when you are displaced and have to pack up again every few weeks, ownership becomes theoretical. I have one close family member, my son, who I suspect bought my gift at a gas station, and I love him...
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