This time I came crawling back. Head down, slow approach, looking up shyly for permission. Respectfully I reach out to touch, I understand the distrust. For how many times have I run off to taste some other flavor of myself. For how many times have I bounded back. High on promise, loaded with gifts of … Continue reading Let it Last
Category: Travel
Cherry Tree
I’m home again for a while, a 34-year-old kid. Weaving myself into the routines of my family, riding their waves, trying to hold onto my individuality without taking up too much space. Without feeling like I need to become them to fit with them, but without rebelling too hard against the reality they’ve created that … Continue reading Cherry Tree
Dwelling in Ireland
And so I'm in Europe, my first time, arrived by epic adventure across an ocean, served on a small wooden-boat shaped platter, and all I could do was huddle against the damp Irish chill in my father’s down sleeping bag, glued to Caribbean weather reports on the screen of my tiny iPad. I couldn’t seem … Continue reading Dwelling in Ireland
Newfoundland, Canada
We motored into St. John's Harbor among massive tankers and rickety old fishing boats to the biggest town in the Canadian province of Newfoundland. Houses on hills, ships, tall banks and hotels. At 250,000 people, this town boomed when oil boomed, and has since dried up into 2-3 months of tourism and fishing. Inhabitants are … Continue reading Newfoundland, Canada
I Am A Writer
“A story is a meaningful pattern of events. Through finding a story’s shape within your life’s shape, you could know what your life means.” It’s 4:45. Something woke me. I think my phone buzzed, and now I have to pee. I duck out of the mosquito net and cross the sagging, uneven plywood floor, just … Continue reading I Am A Writer
In the Heart of Queen Maeve’s Cairn
Exploring a hidden Irish glen. (Backtrack to Europe exploration.)
Trapped in Paradise
I am developing a roll of forgotten snapshots. I am tracing a dark line over the faded route we took when I was eight, connecting dots of scattered memories that still flash up through layers of time. It’s taken me years to return to this place. It is a good story, one I will write … Continue reading Trapped in Paradise
Frank the Security Guard
Just an hour from Union Island, smashing upwind, motoring at three knots, we pulled into the open bay at Mayreau. The flocks of boat boys in their brightly painted launches circled and touched down for just a second, much less insistent than in Chatham Bay. Their easy attitude left me wanting to buy something from … Continue reading Frank the Security Guard
Barbados By Bus (And Mini-bus)
We were a group of five gringoes standing beside the main road, a strip of narrow, pale pavement, unlined although there were supposedly two lanes. Flexible lanes, determined by the route best to avoid potholes or other cars. Steve, the Kiwi, and Cammie from Luxembourg, both off Proxima Vida, our buddy boat. Chris, one of … Continue reading Barbados By Bus (And Mini-bus)
Almond Energy and Rasta Reasoning
Today I know what I need. I feel it in my cells. They are thirsty for it, aching for it. To soak it in, to soak in it. I swim to shore. The water is too watery, too salty, too dry and windblown and barren. Today I do not need the sea. The sea is … Continue reading Almond Energy and Rasta Reasoning
