A wayward harridan with too many hobbies.
A wayward harridan with too many hobbies.
It's a soft pastel early evening somewhere in the Midwest and the sky is still smudged with thinning clouds that are waning after the rain has passed. The weather is cool and forgiving this time of year, a welcome relief before the humidity sets in and turns the air thick and syrupy. A light breeze is drifting through the window screen as I’m leaning back in my office chair swiveled away from my desk so that my feet can rest…
I’ve been staring at the blinking cursor on my screen for what feels like hours but has probably only been two minutes. Nearly eight months have passed since the accident, but still, it's the only thing I know how to talk about.
New Year's Eve is a funny time. A night when we gather with our loved ones and toast to the memories we have made over the past 364 days. Our dreams and aspirations for the coming spin around the sun glint like jewels in our eyes as we sip champagne, light off fireworks, and imagine how we will narrate the coming seasons with our internal monologues. What trips we'll take, what skills and trades we'll try, what we hope to…
It was the week before Thanksgiving in 2015, and I was on the phone with my sister Amanda trying to square away our plans for the holiday. “You want me to make a gluten-free what?” “A gluten-free casserole.” “You want me to make a casserole. Without gluten.” “Yeah. Kam and I aren’t eating grains right now.” This was a problem. Kam, Amanda’s closest friend and the unofficial fifth daughter of our household, was in charge of bringing the dessert. If she…
In the minutes after walking out of my office job in Spokane, Washington, I panicked and weighed my decision. It was a silent revolt; I shouldered my purse and calmly made my way to my car at what could have been mistaken for a lunch hour. I could turn around and everything would be the same. I’d still have a job. I’d still have a paycheck. I’d still be living in the Inland Northwest, which was supposed to have been temporary, but a year…
I waste a preposterous amount of time preoccupied with the idea of love, dating, relationships, and the general concept of romantic companionship eternal until the sun burns out. Anyone who knows anything about me can tell you this. Someone who is an acquaintance of an acquaintance could tell you this. A stranger could tell you this, purely from the observation of frenzied desire glinting in my eyes within a limited interaction. It's an obsession so intense that even someone three…