Tag: family
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Gifts
I finally left the harbor — yahoo! Habibi came through torrential rains and gale force winds just fine! Nothing shifted, nothing broke, the mooring held. The holding tank leaked a little because I’d been working on it and hadn’t tightened the lid enough. But all the hatches stayed battened until I opened them to the…
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Stinky
Early one morning in Olympia, Emmett and I went for a ramble and swim at Priest Point Park. Much to his delight, he found a rotting salmon corpse to roll in. Oh, the joy! Not a problem for me until the return drive home, Emmett in the back seat. The stench! Even with all the…
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Stung
Knee deep in the La Jolla Pacific, I feel a gentle slice on top of the second toe on my left foot. So gentle in fact that I’m surprised to see blood. Hunh. Wading out to get a better look, a half inch cut bleeds copiously. Foot above heart to slow the flow, I rest…
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Closing
When I learned the name of the buyer of my mother’s house, I knew everything would be okay, because Bianca (Kitty) was a very dear friend of mine. On closing day, while the human Bianca signed papers in New Orleans, I drove to Queen of Heaven Cemetery and found John’s grave. I cleaned the headstone…
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All That Jazz
Mom liked to travel. One Xmas, her wanderlust was severe. “Where do you want to go?” I asked, and she thought a moment and said, “New Orleans.” “Okay then.” I agreed to go with her to Jazz Fest, which begins the last weekend of April and concludes after the first weekend in May. The food!…
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The Noisy Boys of Kilauea
When I looked at the place, the landlady said one guy lived next door. A lie. Ten to fifteen guys live next door — during the week. Hired to work on a resort, they are commercial landscapers. Some come from Oahu, some from Maui, and recently a few from México. They all wear fluorescent orange…
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Fish Friend
Green, silver, tiny, and in my face. Quick fish darts to my mask: once, twice, three times. It is possible to laugh through a snorkel tube. I’ve seen at least 25 species of fish this morning. This one’s about an inch and a half, if that, two-tone: mottled green along the top half, silver along…
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Ireland
Mimi and Pappap took us to Ireland when I was eleven. Great-Aunt Maude had died — one of my favorite relatives of all time — and left enough for the five of us to tour the island. It was fabulous. There was an Irish wolfhound at a castle that allowed my five-year-old brother to ride.…
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Severing Ties
I recently accepted the sad decision to sever ties with a brother. I will no longer tolerate his atrocious behavior. He has lost the sister who sang him his first song ex-utero. He has lost the sister who helped raise him. He has lost the sister who loves him beyond measure. It was not an…
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Distressed
So, my baby brother would rather hire an attorney than apologize to me. What happened to him? The boy I watched over when my mother was too nuts to do so? And, get this, my father paid the retainer. Wow. I am a swan, not an ugly duckling. I do not fit the fam. Nonetheless,…
words & art by shé 