She came home from the store with a new journal that had a robin's egg blue cover and a violet ribbon to tie it up with, and a perfect shade purple gel ink pen, and could not wait to get some fresh ideas onto the paper. Her boyfriend George circled around her chair several times with a worried expression before asking, “Are you writing about me?” “No, I am writing about a character I dreamed up the other day—one who is tortured by love, but who is too shy to admit it to his girlfriend,” she…

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I keep thinking about deathbed conversations

The sort where you say “You know, I always ...”

Always wanted to tell you ...

Always wanted… Continue

We drove in silence, always do, always did, and sometimes I wonder if it's because you had a motorbike & sidecar when we first started going out together and me being in the sidecar allowed - left - me to sit and think for much of the time.



But then I remember that even before then - right from the start - we didn't used to say a lot to each other: the important thing then was that what we DID say - or at least what I said - was stuff I wouldn't say to anyone… Continue

I find myself responding to my husband, "Lenny says blah blah blah..." at least a couple of times a day.



Twice a day, at appropriate times, that's not unreasonable...but soon it will be, let me tell you why.



Because most people, especially spouses, do not want to hear what someone else says on a regular basis.



At first there is amusement... maybe; then there is tolerance...maybe, but soon, it will drive them… Continue

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This was not the time to offer platitudes. I hugged him, and rummaged in my backpack to get him a tissue. I also drew out a bottle of orange juice, which he gulped thirstily.

“Thank you,” he said, with unfathomable pain in his eyes. “Do you want to tell me about it?” “Lean your bike against the wall, and let’s sit down on the kerb, and I’ll tell you!” he said with a quiet authority I could not fathom. I put it down to…

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Thirty-two phone calls, 7 e-mails, 50 texts, and a carrier pigeon later, there’s still no logical plan/itinerary/blue print for how we are handling this weekend. Here I sit in a multi-media world and no matter the amount of communications technology I have at my fingertips, it does nothing for the actual interaction of verbal…

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Anyway, Joe's been goin' a little downhill what with him endin' up at the post office and not knowing how to get back home and all. But Sarah's boy, Joe's grandson, who's been lawyering down there in Dallas for the last 10 years or so, has decided to move back to the good life to take care of ole Joe. Guess he's thinkin' about openin' up a little practice/coffee shop here in Nosville. Seemed like a nice, handsome, upstanding kid when we met him at church last…

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For two years before he applied for voluntary redundancy – at the age of forty-nine – he discussed endlessly with me the pros and cons, especially the financial implications, since our two younger children were still dependent. Other aspects bothered me: I worked from home and having the house to myself from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. every day was something I was extremely reluctant to give up, although morally I could not object.



Once the… Continue

When at last Amy opened the door, its hinges let out a long familiar groan, the way old houses wail and sigh as they're pushed or moved, though Bill never thought lubricating the hinges necessary as "they're cheaper than Brinks security."

She stood in the doorway for a long five minutes, waiting for Bill to finally say something - good-bye or sorry - just as she'd always waited for Bill to say he thought her hummingbird obsession cute or that she was…

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Hi, hi, hi handsome.

A little green phone suspended in outer space.
A beacon from afar, I see clearly at my place.
Now that you're in town.
I shut my green world down.
Don't want to see you dangle like a lime green carrot in my face.

Okay, so words are difficult for us. We both are going through some major changes of personal nature and as we strive to redefine ourselves, we are grasping and reaching so that we don't lose one another in this whirlwind of emotional upheaval. The last thing I want is to wake up a better person only to find that the person I love the most has been left behind. We try to talk, to shout, to make ourselves heard over the cacophony of others who are in our lives, whether we want them there or not.… Continue

All my life it's been said of me, "She speaks so well." In every job I've ever held, I've been promoted due to my ability to communicate with others and to "create understanding between previously hostile parties." My friends come to me not only because of my talent for keeping secrets, but also because I'm able to listen to what they say and ask them questions that help them clear the muddy waters of thier own troubled thoughts. So why is it that I struggle to have a simple conversation with… Continue