Author of the novel WHEN YOU LOSE CONTROL

The backwoods band of writers are abandoning their typical Tuesday and are instead gathering for a pizza party in a fanciful house. I feel rather excited for what should be a fun twist on one of my favorite times of the week. 

Toes 2-5 on my right foot have seen better days since a couch was dropped on them yesterday. Are they broken? They're certainly bruised to holy hell. Interesting trying to walk around. It's always an adventure with me, I guess. 

In which instant did it all change? March? When the charity bake sale made two new friends?  Well, then, February, because the world events led to the bake sale. So it's been stirring since last February, this clever turn of the universe.  It got closer in June when it was hazy and humid, and we sat near the river walk under rainbows and posters.  Come August, or was it September? When the foundation for our group, our life-changing group, began.  But, oh, October, it happened in October.  Emotions running, sprinting even, and by week two? Well, that was it. Slow at first, and then it burst like a damn and we are all the better for it.

Finding a sweet and thoughtful gift for your girlfriend's birthday. A beautiful pair of handmade sterling silver earrings that she adores. A lovely piece of jewelry that she doesn't want to take off. Her heart skips when she sees them in the mirror as she brushes her teeth. They make her think of you and how you helped her turn the key that needed turning and changed her life.  However, she took the earrings off days later because she was afraid if she kept showering with them on, they'd tarnish. So, she gingerly set them on the vanity. When she went back, one was gone. She looked everywhere. She crawled on her hands and knees, desperately searching. You joined her. You combed through trash, twice. You went through bags and shook out clothes and felt every inch of the bathroom floor tile. You took out flashlights and tools. Nothing. Her favorite pair of earrings was now inexplicably a single.  She was devastated.  Cursing herself and feeling like an irresponsible adolesce...

At work on Saturday, I was forced to sit outside with a bunch of kids in 30ish° weather. Though I wore ski pants and two winter jackets, among my many layers, I was freezing. By late Sunday morning, I was sick. Coincidence? I think not. If the outdoors were so great, they wouldn't have invented the indoors. 

Parasitic deprivation  I'm no longer me  Cruel and tiny alien  I'm forced to become we  Burdensome constraint  I'm a woman so I fright  I am just a birthing vessel  Human, but no right

Crossing dimensional thresholds through fantasy and the impossible. From jade shadows  to realism, black and grey. Substance in the shadows.  Which is known to man? Beyond this fifth dimension  imagination flows like  keys from a kitchen drawer. Such is the infinity of space and  timeless imagination as it  spins around on the  sunflower carousel.  The next stop, of course, is home.

Waking up to your handsome face is the best present I could ever receive. What a wonderful birthday, what a lucky life. 

Two grey hairs, ah ah ah! I didn't even make it to 36 before I began to go grey!  So close.  Sail on, silver girls.

Who doesn't love Hootie and the Blowfish? How is that possible? They are the soundtrack of the 90s, of simpler times. They are easy listening, easy vibes. I saw Darius Rucker in concert a few years back and his voice took me right back to the decade of my youth. 

Work is almost a two-hour drive, round trip.  Today and tomorrow, I've been asked to drive there, pick up the child, and drop him off at the house. Then, I leave. It's about 9 minutes work time total each day, and almost four hours of driving time. As Billy Joel said, you pay for your satisfaction somewhere along the line!

Up the bumpy hill and to the right  Straight ahead till the traffic light  Take a left at the pizza place  In this half hour love race  Down a stretch off John Fitch  Another left, make the switch  Over the bridge and through the city Two traffic circles, what a pity  Ten minutes past the lobster shack  And finally, I'm back

 Two cats on the floor  Wrestle in front of the door  Couldn't love them more 

I wasn't quite four Days away from my birthday When dad took me ice skating  At the Gardner rink  How funny we looked  He in a Simpsons sweatshirt  I know he didn't pick out or buy  Me in pink  Me, in pink  Puffy coat and sweatpants  Girly hat and knitted mittens  The man next to me  Looked like Mickey Mouse in  Thinsulate gloves  And donned a huge fanny pack  Sailing around the ice  In hockey skates  And figure skates  Zamboni memories  Nearly thirty-two years later 

Fluffy, multicolored queen  Quadruped of leisurely life  Stay with me when I am ill  Adored are you, dear little one 

2023  Endless possibilities  Books being published  Changes  Strides  Excitement  Fresh