He was standing hundreds of miles away when he got the news: his mother lay dying. He booked the next flight out, hoping, praying that he’d get there in time. He had one chance to get to her, one chance to say goodbye. She was fading quickly.
But things started going wrong. A delay, long enough to affect his next flight, the last flight of the day. A day could be too long. His mother didn’t have a day.
His heart broken, tears began streaming down his face in the middle of the airplane. He may not get the chance to say goodbye. (more…)
I drive a lot these days. And when you consider how that driving takes place in the DC metro area, you have to agree it’s like Driving 2.0. We’re not talking peaceful country roads. It’s madness out there. Thankfully, I only venture out safely ensconced in Luna and armed with one assumption: most drivers are idiots.
I’m never disappointed.
There’s a whole jungle a lot of strange creatures out there. Like:
The GPS Drivers.Given that DC is a major tourist destination, we seem to have a lot of these. They’re the ones who drive 10 under the speed limit, braking intermittently. Until they realize they need to make a right turn. From the left lane. Then they cut off whoever is in their way (because obviously no one is allowed to turn around. Ever. If you miss your turn, you’re done.) (more…)
I went for a hike on Sunday. I needed to get away, to take to the woods. I don’t know whether it’s a writer thing, or an introvert thing, or what, but like Robert Frost, I sometimes find myself with the need to take to the woods and bask in the silence of trees.
I’ve stopped watching the news, with all the noise and the opinions and the speculation. I did, though, read about the victims. I always do, when something so terrible happens. Because I want to think of them as people, not as symptoms of some larger, societal problem or as tools to promote an agenda. Sometimes I think every time someone reframes the story, the people get lost.
I wanted to acknowledge them as individuals, as human beings with hopes and dreams. A woman whose boyfriend was about to propose. A little boy who wanted to be a paleontologist. A little girl who loved horses. Teachers who put themselves between a gunman and their students. Children who still believed in Santa. Brothers, sisters, daughters, sons. (more…)