Joanna smiled as the sound of laughter radiated down the hallway and into her room; she tried to remember the last time she had heard this kind of spontaneous, unpracticed joy and was both shocked and saddened to realize that nothing came to mind. How had she allowed her life to become so barren, so empty of the things that made her heart the happiest? When had she become content with the status quo and more willing to exist than to live? When had making the perfect salad become more of a…

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Too much or too little? Where the hell does one find just enough? From the time we enter toddlerhood, we're taught that there is too big ... accompanied by too small and the elusive just right. After all, Goldilocks ... that silly little twit ... found it, so it must be real. Why is it that as adults in the twenty-first century, we continue to blindly grasp for its intangible perfection, always clutching at air.

When is 'good enough' ... well ... good enough?

Pieces of real scattered the landscape of her days, jumbled among the lies, fantasies and imaginings he fed her. They were the moments when she knew with peace-shattering clarity the glaring truth of the matter. Those were the stabbing glimpses of authenticity when she knew without doubt that he did not ... and would never ... love her as she loved him. Then came the salvation of the blessed oblivion of the make-believe, the warm cocoon of habit and routine, cloaked in the comforting shroud of… Continue

I spent hours on the back porch with my grandmother – sipping iced tea, sweet and cold – listening to the stories of the child I had once been and the adventures I had embarked upon. I heard of the fearlessness of a young girl full of determination and courage, tales accompanied by the backdrop of cricket song and cicadas humming in the summer evenings. I saw myself through the eyes of another – eyes wiser and richer than my own with memories and perspectives lost to me. Hours were spent poring… Continue

Lost somewhere between sleep and waking, she turned toward the weight newly settled on the far side of the bed, reaching out a hand toward the warmth she knew would be there. His mere presence brought with it the security needed for her release into that place of absolute rest and escape. She scooted closer, settling into the crook of an arm that fit her shape perfectly. For hours she had listened for the sound of the garage, the door, the rattle of keys, the whisper of quiet footsteps as he… Continue