The Tightrope Retiree
She’s tiny under her fuzzy red hat and scarf. She’s come out into the chilly weather to inspect her sidewalk. She steps like she’s on a high wire, one foot … Continue reading
A Place to Tie Your Wishes: Affection and Cargo
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
A line of tour buses waited outside the leather goods store. As tourists wandered in to admire coats and boots despite the…
It’s Not So Very Cold Here
The young man is sheepish about the avocados he’s placed at the check out. He’s looking at the cashier as she finishes the prior transaction. As soon as she turns … Continue reading
For Flyover Country
Oh, America, how I began to love your country! What miles of silences God has made in you for contemplation! If only people realized what all your mountains and forests … Continue reading
Red Light
Stopped in traffic, I may or may not be listening to 80s music and dancing in my seat. (Okay, I am.) I glance around for witnesses and find a bulldog … Continue reading
Icy Conditions
In the middle of Pennsylvania, after driving through sleet and ice for five hours, it is a relief to smile at the two older men sitting for coffee at the … Continue reading
New Year, New Adventure
I’ve enjoyed the holidays, though I found few strangers. I’ve been spending time with family, childhood friends, neighbors who have seen me grow up, and my sweet nieces who make … Continue reading
My Journey Home
TSA airport security in O’Hare is making me cry. I receive glares, short-tempered orders, eye rolls, and blank stares. After twenty hours of travel, I have tears in my eyes … Continue reading
Random Apple of Kindness
Our checkout woman has short, funky blonde hair and she’s been very unhappily scanning groceries for a ceaseless line of customers. I don’t blame her for being grumpy. I’m with … Continue reading
On Your Way
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
You know, my dear child, that one cannot find peace in word or in pleasure, in the world or in a convent,…
Writer’s Blah
It’s not been Writer’s Block, but Writer’s Blah. I’ve found many Nice Things lately, but the stories are giving me fits. It’s like I keep pulling burned cookies from the … Continue reading
The Fence, The Dog, The Gasp.
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
There’s a creature sniffing in the bushes, this is clear to the small girl with a set of freshly coiled braids. She…
A Heartening Tip for Homebodies
Travel? One need only exist to travel. I go from day to day, as from station to station, in the train of my body or my destiny, leaning out over … Continue reading
Soup and Sisters
I’m willing to bet they are sisters, or perhaps very close cousins, but the group of three women are all sitting with identical postures while waiting for the airplane. The … Continue reading
You’re a Stray and That’s Okay
The woman proudly marches with a designer purse and sunglasses, but she also totes a plastic bag of cat food. She stops along the sidewalk to give a handful of … Continue reading
The Biblio-Commuter
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
The man’s briefcase lies across his legs like a desk and he rests his elbows on it. The U-Bahn stops, but he…
Inheritance
I inherited from my father his way of looking at things and some of his integrity, and from my mother her dissatisfaction with the mess the world is in and … Continue reading
Traffic Dynamics
I like to imagine the shuttle bus from the airport to Taksim Square is a tour bus for my band. Of course, I’m in this band with about 40 people … Continue reading
A Sentimental Sunset in Montenegro
Originally posted on The Nice Thing About Strangers:
In his saner moments he would have been ashamed to respond so strongly to the familiar, banal and utterly meaningless colours of…
Over Your Shoulder
Brno is a city that nearly evaded all vowels. You can see the Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul straightaway upon arrival. It leaps up and towers above everything. From … Continue reading
The Nice Thing About Strangers 