Category Archives: Memories

Happy Birthday

by

Walter is his neighbor; he lives a few doors down. There are two others in between them and even more in the general vicinity, but Walter has always been my favorite because they share the same birthday. It certainly isn’t because they knew each other (they didn’t), nor because they passed away on the same […]

The Beauty in Loss

by

One month ago, a relatively routine trip to the vet took a difficult turn. I dropped Tayo off for bloodwork and headed into the office. That same evening, I said goodbye to him. Exactly one year earlier, he’d gotten his tail kicked in what must’ve been the cat fight to end all cat fights. Ever […]

Everybody’s Changing, Round 2

by

In March of 2012, I wrote a post about one of my best friends who was moving across the country for a new job. It seems like just yesterday we said goodbye. Just yesterday I was crying my eyes out, just yesterday I was wondering when we’d see each other again, just yesterday I was […]

Think Alive

by

They say it’s better to be safe than sorry, and better paranoid than dead. My mama raised me right, ’cause I’m a paranoid girl. Maybe it has something to do with witnessing my mom’s purse being snatched from her hands while we walked one block to the grocery store when I was four or five. […]

2014

by

In just a few moments, gunshots will ring out across the city. Police sirens will fill the night air, illegal fireworks will light up the sky, shouting from nearby houses and apartments will commence and the new year will begin with a bang. Literally. That’s Anaheim for you. I enjoyed a bit of Dirty Dancing […]

37.

by

“You can’t help getting older, but you don’t have to get old.” -George Burns Today is my birthday. I was born close to noon, so I like to think that explains my penchant for sleeping late. And since I tend to be more of a thinker than a talker, they have a way of always […]

Through the Years

by

There’s a framed, sepia-toned photograph hanging on the wall behind my monitor. “Racing at the Clarendon” is its title, and it was taken on the sands of Daytona Beach in 1922. Spectators are lined up along the boardwalk and can be seen viewing the festivities from out their hotel room windows. Cars — four of which are […]

The Upside to Assumption

by

It was bad enough that I was in one of my least favorite places on the planet, but the tech at my doctor’s office couldn’t resist going the extra mile. “So, how old are your kids?” she asked. In the few moments we’d been in the same airspace, I’d said nothing about kids or family. Had she been […]

Charcoal.

by

Asphalt. Concrete. Cinder block. Metal. We were playing a high school basketball game on a campus that felt more like a prison. I didn’t want to be there. I kept looking over my shoulder and wondering who might shank any one of us if we scored against the home team. How did we end up […]