The hamster wheel is not about the hamster. Sure pet stores tout the need for exercise and occupation, but who’s really entertained by the fur friend running in endless circles? The ones who built the cage, I suspect. The wheel is in there, so those on the other side can clap. It’s a bit like…
I can’t write about cancer or surgeries or recovery or healing. Not because it’s too soon or I’m sad. I wrote a post about what I’ve been through and how it sucked and promptly deleted it. I can’t remember the last time I deleted a blog post, but God the thing was long and boring,…
Jack caught a squirrel. He has been watching them tightrope across the back fence, fling themselves from tree to rooftop and back again since we arrived one August afternoon. Jack tracks his audacious furry obsession from the window of my office. He attempts to outsmart them with a quiet approach and a sneak attack, only…
I am not sure I’ve always appreciated my bed. I have always loved to sleep and nap, but being in my bed, awake, is not something I used to do until I was recently told by a doctor to stay put. When you are forced to stay in bed, it becomes a place. A place…
I am white. It is the skin I was born in. It’s actually kind of peach and sometimes blotchy in the sun, but in society, I am classified as—white. I’m married to a man with similar skin, and all three of our children are shades of us. We are a white family living on…
Is it wrong to punch a sick man in the face? My whole body hurts and when I think about his wrinkled shirt and incessant coughing, I want to punch him right in his runny red nose. Mr. You-Look-Like-Shit, why did you have to get on my plane? Why couldn’t you have slept through your alarm…
I might be addicted to Wintergreen Life Savers. I wasn’t aware a person could become addicted to Life Savers, save the rainbow candy ones. I thought wintergreen was safe, but I now have mint burn on my tongue because I’ve been eating handfuls of these suckers every day. I’m trying to escape the “just one more”…
I’ve never liked escalators. When I was a child, I was terrified of them. I’d grasp for a hand or stand there holding up traffic. I was always worried that I’d miss the first step and somehow slide into the steel folding blocks of decent. There they would crunch me up like yesterday’s garbage. It was…
I haven’t made a wish in a while, not an official one anyway. I didn’t blow out candles last year for my birthday and I can’t remember the last time Michael held out one of my fallen eyelashes. I have not closed my eyes on the stars, tried to channel a genie, or played tug…