When fears and life collide

“Oh crap.” Not very eloquent, but it’s the first thing that popped into my head when I saw the twenty or thirty men standing by the road a hundred yards ahead of my vehicle. The sun was dipping close to the jagged mountains on my right and bouncing off the sea to my left. It was the […]

Why I’m breaking up with Facebook

“It’s not you, it’s me.” I may have heard that frustrating phrase as part of someone’s worthy attempt to dull a blow. I may also be guilty of having used that frustrating phrase as part of my own unworthy attempt to avoid conflict. Now I am definitely saying it, but not to a person: to […]

Leaving well

I loathe the packing process. I don’t know if it’s because the last ten years of my life have been spent packing and unpacking with brief spurts of stability in between, or if it’s simply because packing forces me to be organized and think ahead (bleh). The whole process becomes a giant puzzle that doesn’t […]

Greener grass

It’s interesting how time manipulates the mind. For the most part, I’m in favor of this. The days after my beloved dog Clyde died, I thought the world was cruel for going on. How could it ignore the passing of such a sweet creature? One that had selflessly seen me through the rigors of middle […]

Oh, Wilma

When we first met her, Wilma was a spunky 3 year-old fully representative of the Papua New Guinean ideal of a toddler. She sassed everything, whether animate or inanimate. She took what she wanted and did what she wanted. She never accepted “no” as the final answer. If “no” became the final answer, she ignored […]