He told me that he loves me…still.  After nearly ten years of being divorced and both of us remarried, today during a phone call ostensibly about our children, he abruptly confessed that he still loves me and that he wishes he had done more to save our marriage.  The intimate, unadulterated disclosure brought surprisingly wistful tears to my eyes, and thoughts about my now four-year-old second marriage, a marriage not without problems.  But what marriage doesn’t have its issues?  My first…

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As usual, I was running late; too late to iron what just minutes ago I had selected to wear to work that day.  My solution was one I used often—toss the clothes into the dryer on the “wrinkle free” setting for fifteen minutes, allowing me the necessary time for hair and make-up.  Clothes in hand, I rushed down to the basement, opened the dryer door, and gave pause while I stared at the huge (is there any other kind?) spider sitting inside the bare drum.  Being deathly (and of course,…

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In the early morning darkness, he rolled over and squinted at the clock on the nightstand.  Twelve minutes until the alarm sounded.  He burrowed deeper under the blankets and closed his eyes, trying to recapture his dream and almost succeeding, until the telltale rhythm of his oldest son’s heavy footsteps on the stairs shook him back to consciousness.  He opened his eyes again and peered at the clock; three minutes had passed.  He listened to the not-so-quiet sounds of his son in the…

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The mud sucked the bottoms of her shoes as she ran along the forested trail, side-stepping partially-hidden stones and tree roots. Falling wet leaves stuck to her head and shoulders, and she was certain there were squirrels aiming acorns at her as she zig-zagged underneath the trees. She skipped down nature-made stairs of slate and dashed across the man-made wooden bridge that spanned Brandywine gorge. She breathed the cool, humid air and pumped her arms in an effort to run faster up the steep… Continue