"Wake up, Sam!" I hear Timothy call from the doorway. He knows I'm awake. It's a game he likes to play. I humor him and roll over on my back and huff. The car and his keys make enough noise to wake up the entire neighborhood. "I brought chicken! We're cheating on our diet tonight." He laughs as he comes into the living room to find me. The more ridiculous I look, the happier he is. And when he's h...

The brick building could have been found in the dictionary as the perfect example of utilitarian. No one had taken the time to put any features into the design and cost was the primary concern. It was here to serve a purpose and that purpose was not adding beautification or character to the small downtown area.

I walked into the lobby and checked in with the teller. My appointment wasn't for ano...

The rocking chair was nearly silent on the porch. There was no sense having a relaxing spot to spend your time if that tranquility was disturbed by squeaks and creaks. Dawn was just brightening and it was promising to be a lovely warm morning. Rare for this early in the spring. But optimism blooms alongside the daffodils. My coffee sat steaming in my hands as I watched the hens scratching through ...

Resilient. Unshakeable. Solid. Timeless.

We had to be. We always have been. We’ve ran from persecution over and again. We left our homes and ventured to new horizons to escape injustice. And we didn’t run far enough. The new world we so wanted to accept us and hold us close, turned it’s nose up again and tried to shred those dreams. We sought shelter again. In the hollers and ridgelines that ...

The space between stars is best described as the journey. The great space of choice, direction, twists, and turns. The space where no limits exist except the ones you place on yourself. One star is the starting point and the next is a layover. What we do between stars is what defines us. It's who we are. Our choices in those vast dark gaps make us, us. And when we leap from that star to our next, ...

Step one. The glass doors are heavier than they looked. Age and disuse likely making them sticky. The hinges could use some attention. The freezing weather not doing them any favors either. The entry is at least warmish. The tile clean but discolored. The building is half abandoned. Through another set of doors at the end of the lobby, I can see what used to be a bank in another life. The ele...

“What’s your favorite color?” Everyone knows their favorite color and can answer promptly and with reason. Pink because it’s soft and feminine. Green because it reminds us of nature. Yellow because it’s bright and sunny and cheerful.

Brown is not high on anyone’s list of favorite colors. Which is a shame. Brown is criminally under appreciated. Brown is everything warm and cozy. Brown is the soil ...

I had “served my debt to society”. I know logically what that means and how it’s intended. Too bad the actuality of how society sees it doesn’t align with the intention. Like a dog that bites once, I’m never to be trusted again. Only it’s unethical to euthanize humans when there may be the same factors at play. Provocation, fear, self-defense. Those can get a human a sentence that doesn’t end in d...

Mid-morning sunshine broke through the blinds and woke me from a halfway decent sleep. I'd slept in later than normal. My one day off this week had been bookmarked for sleeping and rotting. It was glorious. A couple of errands to run at my own leisure with plenty of time for coffee breaks in between. It's the small things in life. My phone was on the charger so I roll over to grab it and see if I ...

Streetlights are flashing on as the evening darkness settles in with the rain. The LED glare is harsh and sudden. The late fall dampness is terrible. The rain never seems to let up. Everything is soggy and sticky. It's a miserable time of year. The restaurants along this street are still doing brisk business. Everyone on their way home from work and shirking the duty of cooking. Takeout is the qui...