Image credit: Photo by aesop on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons The school secretary looked at me over the top of her glasses. The look clearly said, "Oh. It's you again. The mom who can't be bothered to get her child to school on time." She knows my daughter and me, which is not a [...]
Posts under ‘childhood’
Live Light, Love Strong
Image credit: Photo by crowbert on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons On my wrist is a bright yellow rubber bracelet with LIVESTRONG imprinted on it. I plucked it from a small wicker basket on a table next to a guest book at a memorial service where one of the loved ones spoke about the task [...]
Haiku from my Teen Diary – June 9, 1986
That must be heaven. A place you can be yourself and not be afraid.
Lost Time Haiku
I wound my first watch; Mickey Mouse hands driven by the soft click of gears. Approximations, a few minutes here or there, time was blurry, soft. Now countless pixels guide me with sharp precision, but I miss Mickey.
Looking Back
Image credit: Art by jeloid on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons I started keeping a journal semi-regularly when I was in middle school. My very earliest journal entries are a thrilling roller coaster ride through the life of a suburban tween: from the heartbreaking lows of the cancellation of my favorite TV show to the [...]
Footloose Haiku
A school carnival: swept in a wild, laughing throng we push through gym doors. Heads bent like flowers, a giggling daisy chain, girls walk with arms linked. "Hey, it's your birthday! I'll request a song for you! Do you like Footloose?" Like popcorn we bounce, squealing as one breaks away, rushing the DJ. Twenty five [...]
Signposts Along the Way
Image credit: Photo by funkypancake on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons Sometimes people ask me (and frankly, sometimes I ask myself) how I went from being very vocal in my rejection of God to someone who now talks about God all the damn time. The short and simple answer is: 12 Step recovery (which is [...]
Just Say No to Reading
Image credit: Photo by paulbence on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons "Where's the ketchup?" "Don't you remember?" asks Mark, a little exasperated. "We had this conversation," he says as he begins to describe it to me in elaborate details: all the full sentences I said to him in response to what he said to me [...]
Fear of Economic Insecurity
Image credit: Photo by pfala on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons When I was 8 years old, the company my father worked for underwent a change in ownership and began to purge their payroll. These were the days before the common use of such staid terms as "laid off" or "let go"; the term I [...]
Doesn’t Work Well with Others
Image credit: Photo by nickwheeleroz on Flickr Licensed under Creative Commons A big red C. There it was, heartbreakingly plastered on the front of the report I had worked for weeks on. I had painstakingly drawn a wombat on the special mottled pastel paper, neatly stenciled the title ("All About Wombats"), and enclosed it, along [...]
