“Memory is the scribe of the soul.”
– Aristotle
Life brings a variety of blessings. But of the more precious ones is encountering That Teacher. You know the one. That teacher who inspires, encourages, sees something in you that you never knew existed. You believe you are the smartest or most talented or most charming kid in the class when that teacher pours their…
This photo of my mother and me was found in my father’s wallet after he died at the age of thirty-three from lung cancer. I must be around two years old in the photo and my mother, twenty-one. At first, I regretted its wrinkles and creases and then admired them for what they revealed—the wear…
Is it possible to be haunted by a word? If so, my word is “javelin.” Could I have the definition, please? A light spear, usually thrown by hand. J-A-V Could you use it in a sentence, please? She grabbed the javelin and threw it across the field. I stood on that stage, a lonely seventh-grader with one…
This is my grandfather in WWII. It’s not his plane, of course. He was fighting for America. But I’ve always been intrigued by this photo, haunted by it. What was the backstory? Did he capture or kill the pilot of this plane? Did he just stumble upon the plane while on patrol and pause for…
The Fearless Girl statue is a bronze representation of me. Well, not really, but rather it’s a representation of how I want to feel every day but often fall short. When I visited New York City in September 2018, the girl statue was facing down a bull on Wall Street. I just love her! I…
“Everyone should have a friend that they shouldn’t sit next to at a serious function,” said some meme-maker on Facebook. For my mother, that friend was my grandmother. Their bouts of laughter in awkward places were the stuff of legends. Churches, funerals, confessionals. It didn’t matter. When the spirit or magic struck, they just let…
