Black and Gray
His set is winding down, but the guy with the guitar has a few more songs in him. The women who were singing along with his 90s rock covers have … Continue reading
Car Dancing
The boy is a teenager, but also a boy. He sits in the passenger seat of a truck and dances in his spot. He sit-dances with the best of them, … Continue reading
Guest Post: The Huffy Prophet by Sarie Fischer Norval
I hope you’ll enjoy this guest post from my dear friend Sarie. I think her story helps explain why we’ve been friends for 17 years…whoa. Teaching a summer class has … Continue reading
Pool Rules
In the apartment complex swimming pool, two women have the expanse to themselves. They hold the wall and kick, stretching their legs, exercising between observations about the day. Their graying … Continue reading
She’s kind of, oh my gosh
The three elementary-aged kids outside want to be characters from Star Wars. The little boy is trying to stake a claim. “Who is, you know Chewy? You know Chewbacca? What’s … Continue reading
Health and Wellness
The old man winks at a woman on a stationary bike, the kind where one can sit upright with the pedals before them. He is pushing seventy, or pulling eighty. … Continue reading
The March. Guest post by #theRedondoBeachDude.
On an early Friday morning three tiny travelers make their way to school. Passing shining blades of grass, the trio giggles and smiles with the brightness of the day. Hand … Continue reading
Older and Wiser (and Eating Cake!)
The treadmills hum quietly and the pair of ladies speak loudly. Their grey hair bounces, they swing their elbows. When one says, “All right, here we go,” they turn up … Continue reading
One Giant Leap for Ein Kleines Kind
The plastic bag is in the top of the tree. Three stories up. This distance means little to the two foot child under the tree, leaping with his hands up, … Continue reading
Weight Weight…Don’t Tell Me
Waiting for a three a.m. flight after their vacation, the couple weigh themselves on an airport baggage scale. She giggles before stepping up on the square silver platform. Her husband … Continue reading
Courteous Cardio (or My New Old Friend)
I enjoy the solitude of the vacant cycling room, until an elderly man peeks in sheepishly. I beam. (By now it should be clear that the elderly are my favorite … Continue reading
Lay ee odl lay ee odl-oo
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
As bus merged onto the highway, leaving no chance for unhappy passengers to disembark, a group of Slovakian college students old enough…
Iceland. Or The Moon.
How foolish we were to be afraid of loneliness. -Graham Greene. The Heart of the Matter.
The Life Cycle
The recreation center is busy, but like in a scene from a film, the crowd parts for a miniscule elderly lady sauntering slowly toward an exercise bike. She chooses one … Continue reading
Saturday-Ja-Vu: Shimmy in the Suburbs
Heading home, I began to worry that I might run out of stories–or that my stories may not be as interesting when they all took place in English. I stocked … Continue reading
It Takes One to Waltz
A boy in a hooded sweatshirt tips back his generic energy drink, then pauses under the illuminated sign for a dance studio. In the window, a display of streamers and … Continue reading
Manners
On the busy road, a taxi driver slows, inspiring a concerto of honking horns behind him. A red soccer ball rolls into traffic. I notice the children, the owners of … Continue reading
Linger, Loiter
The pair meets in the Kültürpark, a space filled with palm trees, joggers, idle folks napping on benches, doing Sudoku on benches, staring into space on benches. A grandfather takes … Continue reading
I Pick Things Up And Put Them Down
At baggage claim in Istanbul, the men are standing with hands on their hips. They wait shoulder to shoulder, some standing sideways to get one arm slightly closer to the … Continue reading
Morning Routine: Vienna
A woman on her balcony turns her back to the street and raises her arms in a wide V overhead. She stretches at her reflection in the balcony windows. She … Continue reading
The Nice Thing About Strangers 