Is she a friend? Can I call Danielle a friend? Well, I will. Danielle is married to my stepson Paul, the youngest son of my deceased husband. That does not make him young. None of us is young. In any…

Boo’s Way Dogs will eat anything. Anything. One dog of ours successfully ate and digested most of a white stripes cd when he was a pup. Another actually ate the front cover of my son’s Spanish Book but I told…

In this season of spirit and shortened days of quiet and unruly uncertaintude the tidings and tides of the world (which way sway, which way aft) there resides, rides collides, the question of what is given and what is left…

When I taught high school I would have my students journal every morning for 10 minutes on a prompt. That’s an example of what teachers call a ‘sponge’ activity. It allows for latecomers to catch up and for everyone else…

(Here is more from this character) I put the phone back in the pocket of my dad’s barn jacket, and crossed the street to the rental car, which was costing me so much per day, I might as well be…

Oh, I’m asking all right. In an hour and a half I’ll ask the doctor (the PA whom l. has no confidence in—in fact the mention of such a person makes her angry). I’m asking for a relief from this…

1, Stop talking to people. Especially the people you live with. You can nod and smile meaninglessly as you pass one another that's probably all they want. If your cat is exceptionally empathetic, you can try him/her/they. You can definitely…

The darkness came immediately and engulfing, smothering her more than the hood over her head. The last daylight, an hour, maybe two ago, already a fleeting lifetime. Heaviness from all sides pressuring her hand to reflexively seek her chest, to…

We love to continue living. Even the slightest notion of our life ending causes panic in the deepest pit of our stomachs, and that terror radiates throughout every highway, vein and muscle of our bodies. The very thought of our…

even when it's hard. even when it's split into parts and hidden away, so only the prettiest and nicest, most airy parts show. anemic and nonthreatening. even when covered in night soil and infested with bugs, because they've been allowed…

The love of life is never ending, or : Why am I enduring this wretched pain in my leg? Why do I go on being alive when everyone important to me has died? Why do people cling to a branch…