Scene From a Bar
“What’re you writing?” He slurs at me, planting half his butt on the stool next to mine, his standing leg awkwardly close to my hip. I tilt away from him, putting my swimmer’s shoulder between us, and counter the move with a small smile. Striking a balance between kindness without being misleading is not my […]
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Feigned Indifference
I pretend not to react when I catch sight of his hairline just past mid-neck. When I imagined this scenario, I’d assumed it would be his gray-green eyes I’d be avoiding, not the familiar curve of his glasses tucked just over his ear. Immediately I remember feeling the nubs of the tortoiseshell frames under my […]
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FWB
In Kindergarten, I loved to play house. We had a whole mini kitchen set-up in our classroom. Anywhere between two and ten of us would crowd next to the stove, boss one another around, and play out social dynamics that would last the rest of our childhood lives. We didn’t listen to one another, and […]
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Reassurance
Is everything going to be okay? I whisper across the cream-colored, faux-down comforter. The cackles of the neighborhood bar-goers are constant white-noise to anything that is said or done between us when we’re between these sheets. Is everything going to be okay? I G-chat across three time zones and three thousand miles – and if we’re being […]
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An Abundant Lack of Expectations
Over pints of Racer 5 ordered to the upturned noses of Mission bar keeps, my friend Sean Allen pulled me through some of the depths of his decade long love story. Someone else got her pregnant, he said in his half Southern drawl, half French lilt. And she told me while she didn’t love him, she wasn’t sure […]
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Repost – My Father’s Suicide: Making Sense of the Nonsensical
Something completely different today. A person I’m honored to call my friend, Ryan Haack, recently lost his father in the last way he ever imagined. A way even his father probably didn’t imagine. Ryan’s piece is poignant, brave, heart-breakingly fresh, and I think says a lot about what we as humans go through when we […]
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Phase Four
Happy to bring you a new voice from the datingsphere this week, my friend Will. He recently returned to dating, and I’m probably way too excited to be able to share this piece with you. Enjoy! Another night, another mediocre date. …that’s probably not quite fair. Still, I doubt it’d qualify for anyone’s short list […]
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If I’ve Met You, I Probably Love You
Whether past, or present, whether we interact or politely ignore each other (or in some cases, impolitely when you see me at a bar), whether I ever sat down and looked you in the eye and told you or whether we just talked in line at Trader Joe’s once: I almost assuredly love you. On this […]
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Knock Offs
Years ago, a beak-faced ex and I were looking like hares to relocate to the Bay Area, after having spent a tortoise-paced 10 months in Orange County. We were on a secret mission, one even my local parents knew nothing about, and we had approximately 36 hours (sleep included) to find and sign on an […]
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That Phone Call No One Could Prepare For
Ed note: folks, this story is from the bravest of the brave, a woman I am blessed to call my friend, Ella. Her story, heart-breaking as it is, also is heart-inspiring and shows that time can go a long way to maybe not repair what breaks, but help you reconsider that though you’ll never be […]
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