Recently, I opened an “All Photos” file on my computer where I have over 1000 photos, dating back to 2008. With each click of the next photo, I recalled when and where the photos were taken. I considered each snapshot to be a moment in time, uttering, “Oh, that was when . . .” as I had a good [...]
Held discreetly between the palms of my hands, or grasped tightly in a clutch of one, I carry my identity in a compact bundle. Small laminated and paper rectangles slide inside into slots. Paper money, unfolded or halved, and a handful of change finds space elsewhere. We cling to our wallets, identifying who we are in a concentrated capsule—driver's license, [...]
After a lengthy hiatus from writing memoir to write a second book, my first of fiction, I returned to memoir, and recently completed an essay about my mother and I during her final months of life . . . or so I thought. Yes, grief was palpable throughout the paragraphs, yet, when I read the essay a final time before [...]
winter willow I sat on the floor and pulled the lid from a squat octagonal storage bin, releasing a crisp waft of evergreen. Inside, a trove of trinkets lay in beds of crinkled butcher paper. They varied in size, shape, color—and age. I rummaged through the collection, my fingers becoming sticky from leftover tree sap clinging to the Christmas tree [...]