Good and Broken
You’re always wondering what it means to live a good life. Someone sat at a table the other day, watched you wipe down a counter, and asked you if you want to serve coffee for the rest of your life.
Sorry
So lately I find myself trying, instead, to think less often about my insecurities and shortcomings, and to focus more on the person in front of me who is accepting me for who I am.
Letters to God
“Can’t you feel that?” Pastor said one Sunday. “Can’t you feel that breeze?” I could. I was pretty sure it was the air conditioning kicking in.
Against the Wind
So I scoop the Cherry Pineapple Parfait, listen to Katy Perry, and wonder if any of my effort will ever make any difference or if I’ll always be as powerless and obsolete as a plastic bag drifting through the wind.
On Washing Dishes
So often my mind races about circumstances I seem to have little control over that it’s nice to be able to fix something so easily. At the end of the day, it’s nice to be able to bow my head and dip my hands in soapy water and rinse away the dirt.
Whale Watching
“Now,” he says. “I don’t wanna be out there with a root canal. So if we don’t see any whales, and you’re gonna pout about it, I prefer you get off now.”
Building a Road in Jamaica
And so I have to wonder if life is less about walking a road and more about building one. I wonder if it matters less how far we’ve been and how much we’ve seen.
Talking Bird
My bird tried to fly away last week. JJ lives inside a cage inside a house, and I feel bad for him and his wings because it must get a bit cramped behind the iron bars.
Heroes and Villains and The Bachelor(ette)
In any drama, after the curtain falls, the heroes are left to stare at stage makeup without the lights. They are left to create their own stories without ornate settings and scripted climaxes.
Current Events
The stories from history seem recycled: different characters, sometimes different conflicts, but always the same plot. And I know that writing these words doesn’t go far enough.
High School Reunions (In Five Stages)
But, five years later, it’s enough. It’s enough for me get over my insecurities and care about someone. Someones. The someones I grew up with.
Potato Salad Confessions
Just be kind today. No matter how you feel about where you are, no matter how you feel about what you’re doing, just be kind.
Father, Forgive Me
I wonder about the sins that God really cares about, and I convince myself that $2.00 probably doesn’t really matter to God, right? But probably it does.
Faith, Trust, Pixie Dust
Whenever I was out by the family pool alone, which was often when I grew into the double-digits, I would perch at the end of the diving board, take a deep breath, and step off.
Seventy-Seven
And yet, when we fail to be our best to those we love and those we hardly know, I find it difficult to believe that it’s how we hurt people or how we’ve been hurt that defines us.
Hand Turkeys
Thanksgiving should not come from comparing what we have ticked off on our fingers to what our neighbors do. Thanksgiving should be an actual experience of gratitude.
Potato Salad Diaries
September 18, 2014. I can imagine the dinner conversation now: “Is it just me, or does this macaroni salad have more parsley in it than usual?” My bad.
wikiHow To Do Anything
So when we say we do not know how to do something, we do not accept defeat. We do not even sign up for Tae Kwon Do classes. We type “how to roundhouse kick” into the search engine of our choice.
Beach Bah Humbugs
But if I’m being honest, I kind of hate the beach. If I must go to the beach in the summer, I prefer going before 9 a.m. or after 7 p.m. You know, with the runners or the couples.
Lost Dogs, Hawks, and Vending Machines
So, I scan the trees one last time, turn around, and head back to the campsite. “Did you find the dog?” my friend asks me.
Do I look like I found the dog? I think.
