Humanity: Raw & Unfiltered
I can hear sanguine words with every beep, whoosh, expansion, and dink dink the vital sign machine makes. I see the other families clinging to them for dear life, as the used tissues gather into moist mounds in the trash bin.
Recently I stepped out of a darkness I didn’t realize I was in, and leaving it behind is a process. I believe I would be selling myself short if I said I was fragile because I’m actually quite strong. But, emotionally I feel so much at once sometimes, it causes Read more
I was nine when they drove away from my foster home. First, my parents. Then, four years later, my grandparents. Finally, it was me in the car, with my new mom, on my way to my new life. I was terrified into stillness. I was ten when a handwritten letter Read more
We were friends for 87 days before we started dating. Despite being told you should date someone taller, prettier, smarter, more religious, you asked me out. When asked why, you said YOU KNEW. We dated for 438 days before we were married. Despite being told we were too young, to Read more
Flick. The sound of the red Bic lighter. Inhale. Hold it. Exhale. Breathe air. Looking out at the Bay as if it were already a black and white photograph on postcard paper with tattered edges. Sad, waves invoked the gravity of my tears streaming down my cold and blistered cheeks. Read more
“I am a woman, phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that’s me.” Maya Angelou Heather W, Mara, Melissa, Barb, Alison, Jennifer, Heather J, Mary, Jenny, Carrie. These are 10 women I’ve crossed paths with over the last 22 months who lost their husbands at a very young age, mostly unexpected. Some of these women Read more
Looking behind me, I twisted my torso and pressed down on the tin canister that sat in the passenger seat as I backed up the car. A horrid pop song played on the radio. I don’t normally think the word “horrid”, but I was in mom mode, so my mind Read more
I wear scarlet to his funeral, a beautiful floor-length affair with sleeves that flick the air like flames, a splash of red electricity. I swirl with the bagpipe’s skirls. Sounds hunchbacked and keening, drench the mourners crushed in black, mute and dark eyed. I am the solitary scarlet bell. My Read more