It is hovering near 95 degrees in Seattle today, and it has been sunny for too many days in a row, and I find all of this terribly annoying. I am sitting at the bar of my favorite brewery chugging a glass of ice water when I overhear someone comment on how hot it [...]

She reaches for my hand, not unlike anyone has ever reached for my hand before, and I reach back, without thinking, really, and I hold her hand, squeeze tightly, so she knows that I’m there, and I don’t let go until I need to do something else, and when I’m done with that, I reach [...]

I am standing on the low end of a grassy hill, looking skyward, and I am lost in this moment. It is dark, darker than dusk, but not as dark as the black of night illuminated by a new moon. I am looking upward, into the sky, taking note of the stars and naming the [...]

The drive home, the seemingly long drive home, is often not as pleasurable as the scenery that surrounds my vision: mountains, lakes, trees, birds, deer, slabs of granite. These things, these elements of nature that slide past my vision are what I would call beautiful and delightful. But there are pockets here and there, places [...]

I was sitting in the room, I remember, and the temperature of the room felt cold against my skin, and when I am cold I cannot see my veins as clearly as I do when I am warm. I like seeing my veins. Sometimes, I like feeling my veins because they are filed in my [...]

I am sometimes, often really, touching someone’s blood. Sometimes it touches my skin, my hand, my pants, my shirt, my shoes, my face. I am not scared of this, not scared of someone’s blood, not scared of what might be in their blood that could hurt me. I see their blood, though, I see it [...]

I need to tell you something. I need to tell you this because I cannot keep these words in any longer: “You are one of the most beautiful women I have ever seen. Ever.”
These words, the ones I just said, if I keep them inside, they will cause a sharp tearing sensation somewhere north of [...]

He used white paper. Standard white office paper that you would put through a printer. No lines. Blank. And he used, I think, but I cannot remember clearly, a blue gel pen. His handwriting was clean, not messy, not hesitant, not frantic. He was clear in what he was saying, clear in his desire to [...]