The Bear Had a Peach and Left

There are days when I think the bears have figured out life better than we have. Recently, a black bear wandered into an Alaska shopping mall. Yes.A shopping mall. It apparently walked through the automatic doors, stole a peach, pooped on the floor, and left. And honestly? Respect. […]

Karmic Retribution

Do you believe in karma? Perhaps karmadoesn’t arrive with thunder. Perhaps it arrivesin the form of a person. Someone who teases youthe way you once teased someone else. Uses youthe way you once used someone. Wanders awaythe way you once wandered. Withholds the tendernessyou once withheld. Leaves you […]

October Is Showing Off

October may be shaping up to be epic. Five Fridays. FIVE. Five opportunities to sigh dramatically at the end of the workweek and declare, I have survived another one. And five Saturdays! Five glorious little permission slips to sleep, rest, party, wander, do absolutely nothing, or do everything […]

Komodo Energy

I think I would like a Komodo dragon. Not as a pet, exactly. More as a roommate with its own wing of the house, a very generous food budget, and a legally binding agreement that we do not eat one another. Because look at them. Fierce. Beautiful. Majestic. […]

Karma Has a Long Memory

Do you believe in karma? I believe in karma. Always have. No hesitation. No existential debate. I don’t need to see the cosmic spreadsheet to know somebody is keeping receipts. What we put out into the universe comes back. Sometimes gently.Sometimes loudly.Sometimes with the subtlety of a brick […]

The Ghosts Still Find Me

The ghosts still find me. They don’t need directions.They know where I am. They find me in dreams,where the dead are inconveniently alive again,where I can hear a voiceI haven’t heard in yearsand for one glorious, cruel momentforget that I cannot hear it anymore. They find me in […]

Beef Everywhere

There is simply too much beef. Beef is expensive.Beef is everywhere.And apparently, everyone has beef with everyone else. There is even a television show called Beef, which is essentially an extended meditation on what happens when two people cannot let a grudge go. We have become remarkably committed […]

The Bitters of Moving On

Sometimes moving on feels less like healingand more like drinking something you really, really don’t want to drink. When you’ve been wronged,there are bitters. A strong aftertaste.A little bitterness on the tongue.A memory that keeps reminding you: Oh yes. That happened. And then there is the perfectly human […]

The Border of Grief

Autumn is the cusp of darknesswhen the days grow shorterand the trees begin letting go. But it isn’t winter yet. Perhaps grief is like that. I have lost so many.Some far too young.Some who should still besending ridiculous emails,making me laugh,walking through the worldas if they had all […]

In Defense of Laughter

I love to laugh. I laugh every day. Sometimes because something is genuinely funny. Sometimes because life is absurd. Sometimes because the alternative is crying, and frankly, I already have enough hobbies. I joke. I find the ridiculous in the ordinary. I look for the silver lining even […]