The neighbor is mowing, filling my house with the rumble of the machine and the smell of green. The sun is shining. Music is playing. The day—the day is mine. The soft bouncing of the door in the windows-open draft. knock-knock—wake up knock-knock—it’s time Sometimes you need to finish a book, even if it means…

I walked into Lake Washington with my clothes on, the day too perfect and the water too warm not to. I waited at the rope for the lifeguard on boat to near the dock with the diving boards. Panting, I climbed the seven or ten feet to the high dive and jumped. I climbed again,…

After rehearsal, I took Marcia home to grab a few forgotten items for the hotel room. Lotion, contact stuff, face lotion. Walking into the house, Marcia paused to check the dampness of her potted plants’ soil, just like any day. Magdi gave me a brief Arabic lesson about the letter that sounds like an “h”…

Some days you get to hang out with friends, eating or watching a movie or talking over ice cream.Some days you get to run around outside in a team-sport activity, even though it’s 98 degrees, because you’re all mutually soaked in sweat and can laugh and bitch together.Some days you get to read a book…

I helped my sister and brother-in-law move in yesterday. Up one flight of stairs into a cute apartment that a friend of mine used to live in. Up and down. Boxes, totes, lamps. Again using my body. It felt good. We moved their queen-sized mattress in, finagling it through the stair landing. “Pivot!!” came to…

I’m on a streak! Look at me blog! Did you think this was going to be about nudity? OK. Well, we have been talking about this lately, because of the College World Series. Hilary even plotted her route if she were to ever venture. And here’s a question: Is it “streaking” if you run onto…

We did yard work together, using our muscles and our tendons and bones, sweating in the sun as we pulled and trimmed and pushed. Dirt stuck like flies to our glistening arms and legs. We wiped our brows with gloved backs-of-wrists and drank cucumber water from sweating glasses, whose condensation dripped down our happy chins.…

Happiness is a circle of friends, salty in post-frisbee garb, stabbing forks into a communal bowl of watermelon lounging in a love-chair(? (“seat” is too strong of a word)), giggling with two of my bestest friends sister time which may include shopping for lingerie the day before my baby sister’s wedding watching said baby sister,…

I was laugh-crying in my bedroom. This beloved high school teacher of mine passed away recently, and a former schoolmate made a video in remembrance of him. If you listen to the last few seconds of this video (9:19), you’ll get one of the reasons I shared a special bond with him. When we had…