Happy Birthday

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 […]

Bridge the Gap

Confession: Whenever the sheer number of people in this world starts to come into focus — even in the tiniest way — it freaks me out. I would say that it causes heart palpitations, but that’s not entirely true…though it does seem to cause somewhat of the emotional equivalent. Confusion. Concern. I catch my breath when […]

Farewell for Now

The two-year-old is heading for an indefinite time-out, y’all. Go ahead, reach for your tissues now. I’ll wait. …waiting… OK then. Good to go? Back to it: Thanky will be on a hiatus for the foreseeable future. It’s not that she’s been bad, she just needs time to sort through things. I’ve likened Thanky to […]

The Not Day

Is it 1979? Because I’m fairly confident my brain today could pass as being the sole inspiration for Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” Days like today make me want to throw in the towel for this blog. Because, really, it is what it first set out to be: a collection of daily writings — and the […]

Ostrich.

You know those things that make us shift and squirm, feel uneasy and nervous? I feel like I’m finally learning to coexist with them. This used to be one. The mere thought of posting something before the end of each day for all the world to see (forgetting for a moment that that not even […]

I have a two-year-old.

She’s quiet, doesn’t talk back and never throws tantrums. She’ll never succumb to the terrible twos; I can guarantee the worst she’ll give me is some difficulty when it comes to gathering my thoughts and focusing. She’s a joy to come home to, and I’d swear she appreciates our nightly routine as much as I […]

The Final Countdown?

Tomorrow marks the last day of a daily writing expedition which has run for two years straight. And if I’m a woman of my [recent] word, tomorrow would be the end of Thanky as we know it. But now…now I’m not so sure. It’s like a breakup that you know doesn’t need to necessarily happen […]

What good shall I do this day?

“A writer takes earnest measures to secure his solitude and then finds endless ways to squander it.” -Don DeLillo Do you do it? I do. I’m at my computer when I realize that I’m thirsty. A walk to the kitchen turns my attention to my feet. They’re cold. Time for socks. As I pull on my socks […]

18.

Eighteen. The number of days left — including tonight — until I will have blogged daily for two years…minus a small hiccup last summer when the Palm Springs heat lulled me to sleep without warning…and without writing. Oops. Eighteen years ago I was eighteen. But I can only say that for thirteen more days…then 37 […]

Music therapy.

Brian Crain’s “Song for Sienna” is a tune that moved me to tears the first time I heard it. I think I was listening to a Pandora station when it came on, and whatever I was doing was immediately paused. It’s a simple composition that sounds full of hope and sorrow, triumph and loss, patience […]