As I laced up my running shoes I told my Mom: “I’ll be at the turn in the road where the asparagus grows in 15 minutes.” She didn’t seem to want to go unless everyone could come and went about trying to rally the scattered troops. I finally left, frustrated that mom was going to miss out […]
We went searching for morels. We knew, vaguely, where to find them– in moist woody areas along dead and rotting trees. We knew, more or less, what they looked like– small vertical sprouts with a white stalk and a dark cap. We knew that the time was right– more than a few of our tree-hugging […]
as published on The Huffington Post There is something infuriating and infantilizing about dialing a phone number and reaching a recorded message. Even if the amount of time lost in only a few seconds, the helplessness of interacting with a non-sentient being can be hard to handle. This is especially true when there is waste […]
Originally published in Periphery Magazine ; Audio version here Listen. There was a time when people did not speak. The entire human vocabulary consisted of a single noise. It was an even hum, a length of m’s strung together, no syllables, no vowels, just “mmm”. These early sounds carried only one meaning: acceptance. A birth or a […]
When do you say “I love you” to someone for the very first time? You shouldn’t say it the first time you think it, because the love may change, or he may not be ready to hear it. You shouldn’t hold it for forever in your heart, because the words are a gift, whose truest purpose […]
The sunrise this morning is beyond description. Mom and grandma are perched on the couch, looking out the window at the horizon like children waiting for a mysterious visitor to knock on the door. Their innocence and wonder melts my heart and I join them. As the sun rises, it is pierced in half by […]
Every February, Mom and Grandma take the long drive up to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to experience the heart of winter in the tiny town of Paradise and watch a dogsled race. The UP 200 is a qualifying race for the Iditarod and I am fascinated by its modest exoticism. Even before I reached a maturity […]
This morning, the weather is clear. It’s time to go. Everything Mom does is slow. Maybe not slow-slow, but slower than my pace and it’s frustrating me. Why can’t I be patient? Why do I see each moment as an opportunity to show her what she could be doing better? I am on her vacation […]
Waking up in the hotel room is nothing like it is in the little cabin. There is no window to sit and watch the sunrise from. In fact, when I look out the window, I see nothing. The storm has subsided not at all, and sunrise will serve only to change the hue of our […]
The streets in Marquette are closed off where the sled dogs will be coming through in the next few hours. We get a spot by the window in a downtown pizza parlor and watch the people congregate on the sidewalks. I’ve never see a sled dog race before but I’ve imagined it. In my mind, […]
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