Oh, I live SO CLOSE to the Indiana Toll Road, Marya! I felt in my heart that we nearly brushed against each other again in real life. I know someday. I know. I have thought so much about you these past couple of weeks.
And I can picture you cursing to Siri. (I hate all GPS voices.) It's hilarious. I bet you are a fun traveling companion.
Also, with your former husband fumbling with a map, I remembered when I was an early teen on a road trip with my family. My parents, brother, and I were in one vehicle, and my grandpa and his "caregiver" (live-in nurse/partner) Bob were in another. This was welllllllllllllll before cell phones or ANY digital road assistance! My dad had his tidy little TripTiks from AAA that routed every single stop, including construction delays.
Bob, however, did not. When we arrived in Chicago, Bob veered right when we were supposed to stay straight, and I could see him and Grandpa throwing their hands up and yelling at each other. My dad rolled down the window and screeched, "This way! This way!" Like Bob could hear it in Chicago traffic with four exits at this interchange. Somehow Bob scooted back onto the main highway, but we still laugh about that today, even though both Bob and Grandpa are long gone.
You always bring up such rich stories in my life through your writing, Marya. Thank you for that gift.
But I really think that's what storytelling IS - or at least that's one of the things that makes it essential - the stories we read and hear lead us back to stories we know and then we tell them and that leads someone else back to stories of their own - it's a wonderful web
I love that description, Marya—a web. Indeed. It’s that glorious creative effect of one person inspiring another. I think when we are open, this happens all the time. We simply catch whatever wants to be told through us.
I think it is - and it's never entirely a good thing or a bad - it's nearing the two year anniversary of Zeke's departure for smoother roads, and I was glad to revisit her too xoxo
Once in a blue moon I run across a story so beautifully crafted, so achingly seductive, I just need to bow down to the master who wrote it. That's you, Marya.
Dave, thank you so much - I'm so glad to have you here! I am however mildly concerned about your position on snark - please be advised there's the occasional glimmer of snark in my work, which I hope you will forgive!
I should have been more clear. I don’t like mean spirited snark, the kind with no point. I haven’t seen that in your writing. I just loved what you wrote.
I could waltz all night with your mind….. reading what you write is like riding shotgun with you (except probably much less annoying to you!) I love it.
"Dude, I don't fucking know," and quoted a poem which struck me right then as relevant, and the husband said, "Oh, shut up”
“watching Zeke snortle around in the grass”
“the light was thinner than it was yellow, so it was spring.”
“This DJ is clearly recovering from a broken heart”
“the existential implication of the indefinite clause seems more than a little absurd”
One of the things you might not know (except that I’m telling you now) is that these phrases and sentences play music upon my thoughts, pulling them into a dance.
The inept wus-band with no clue? Oh my lord, I would have been so tempted to stop, and open the door, whilst inviting him to exit unceremoniously.
Zeke snortling? I never knew someone made up a word whenever it was that exactly explains how I can sound when I can no longer contain myself.
Love the way your eyes sense the light.. sometimes, on a very good day, these older eyes can still see it too.
The broken DJ? There have been weeks, or maybe it was years, that I’d search specifically for those stations.
Absurdity at its best. Existential questions invite me into deep delicious trances.
Can’t wait to join you in the Big Feels this afternoon,
"By the time we return, if we return, everything will have changed."
I love this because it holds so much variability - what has changed? The country? The overall energy/vibe? You, your feelings, your thoughts? The climate? The physical landscape itself? This gives me such pause and thought about how we encounter various aspects of life, especially where we are/what we're experiencing at the time.
So many variables!! Every time I think I'll encounter a place one way, it's bound to be the other - every time I think I've remembered a place accurately, I learn I have not, and every time I think something's long since forgotten, it's bound to reappear just as it was. ;) And you want to know the funniest thing about Zeke not peeing in Kansas? LUNA WON'T EITHER
I had a moment recently where I re-visited a place from my college years and thought I would remember the layout perfectly. Went inside . . . nope, complete opposite! Why do we do this? Is it the perceptions our brain WANTS to save, hold on to? Or is it because the experiences we had in that specific place warp our memory to some extent?
There’s something in the Kansas land - Zeke and Luna know and they REFUSE, haha!
Your May 2020 note of ‘All the things I didn’t think to question at the time’ really resonates. It could be the writing perspective for a day, week, year, life. Because no matter what we learn as we go, the retrospect view always reveals more. Thanks so much for sharing your words here, I love reading about your life.
Back from a canyon with no service and catching up. If I never drive I40 across the Texas Panhandle again in this or any future lives it will still be too soon. I let out an audible sigh of relief as we crossed the border into New Mexico.
I have a Samsung. I can't get myself to say "Hi Bixby..."
Oh, I live SO CLOSE to the Indiana Toll Road, Marya! I felt in my heart that we nearly brushed against each other again in real life. I know someday. I know. I have thought so much about you these past couple of weeks.
And I can picture you cursing to Siri. (I hate all GPS voices.) It's hilarious. I bet you are a fun traveling companion.
Also, with your former husband fumbling with a map, I remembered when I was an early teen on a road trip with my family. My parents, brother, and I were in one vehicle, and my grandpa and his "caregiver" (live-in nurse/partner) Bob were in another. This was welllllllllllllll before cell phones or ANY digital road assistance! My dad had his tidy little TripTiks from AAA that routed every single stop, including construction delays.
Bob, however, did not. When we arrived in Chicago, Bob veered right when we were supposed to stay straight, and I could see him and Grandpa throwing their hands up and yelling at each other. My dad rolled down the window and screeched, "This way! This way!" Like Bob could hear it in Chicago traffic with four exits at this interchange. Somehow Bob scooted back onto the main highway, but we still laugh about that today, even though both Bob and Grandpa are long gone.
You always bring up such rich stories in my life through your writing, Marya. Thank you for that gift.
But I really think that's what storytelling IS - or at least that's one of the things that makes it essential - the stories we read and hear lead us back to stories we know and then we tell them and that leads someone else back to stories of their own - it's a wonderful web
I love that description, Marya—a web. Indeed. It’s that glorious creative effect of one person inspiring another. I think when we are open, this happens all the time. We simply catch whatever wants to be told through us.
So good to revisit Zeke in this piece. "By the time we return, if we return, everything will have changed." Isn't that the truth?!
I think it is - and it's never entirely a good thing or a bad - it's nearing the two year anniversary of Zeke's departure for smoother roads, and I was glad to revisit her too xoxo
Once in a blue moon I run across a story so beautifully crafted, so achingly seductive, I just need to bow down to the master who wrote it. That's you, Marya.
Dave, thank you so much - I'm so glad to have you here! I am however mildly concerned about your position on snark - please be advised there's the occasional glimmer of snark in my work, which I hope you will forgive!
I should have been more clear. I don’t like mean spirited snark, the kind with no point. I haven’t seen that in your writing. I just loved what you wrote.
Phew!! so glad you’re here!
I could waltz all night with your mind….. reading what you write is like riding shotgun with you (except probably much less annoying to you!) I love it.
"Dude, I don't fucking know," and quoted a poem which struck me right then as relevant, and the husband said, "Oh, shut up”
“watching Zeke snortle around in the grass”
“the light was thinner than it was yellow, so it was spring.”
“This DJ is clearly recovering from a broken heart”
“the existential implication of the indefinite clause seems more than a little absurd”
One of the things you might not know (except that I’m telling you now) is that these phrases and sentences play music upon my thoughts, pulling them into a dance.
The inept wus-band with no clue? Oh my lord, I would have been so tempted to stop, and open the door, whilst inviting him to exit unceremoniously.
Zeke snortling? I never knew someone made up a word whenever it was that exactly explains how I can sound when I can no longer contain myself.
Love the way your eyes sense the light.. sometimes, on a very good day, these older eyes can still see it too.
The broken DJ? There have been weeks, or maybe it was years, that I’d search specifically for those stations.
Absurdity at its best. Existential questions invite me into deep delicious trances.
Can’t wait to join you in the Big Feels this afternoon,
I feel like snortling is one of those words that should already have been in common usage ☺️ what a joy to have you in the room today! ❤️
Vastly beautiful word pictures. Where are we even going?" A golden reveal.
Thank you, Linda! I continue to think that's the best - maybe only? - question I'm really qualified to ask...
Ravishing. And woven through it, a love letter to Zeke.
Sweetest pup ❤️
"By the time we return, if we return, everything will have changed."
I love this because it holds so much variability - what has changed? The country? The overall energy/vibe? You, your feelings, your thoughts? The climate? The physical landscape itself? This gives me such pause and thought about how we encounter various aspects of life, especially where we are/what we're experiencing at the time.
Aww, poor Zeke and Kansas!
So many variables!! Every time I think I'll encounter a place one way, it's bound to be the other - every time I think I've remembered a place accurately, I learn I have not, and every time I think something's long since forgotten, it's bound to reappear just as it was. ;) And you want to know the funniest thing about Zeke not peeing in Kansas? LUNA WON'T EITHER
🤭🤣
I had a moment recently where I re-visited a place from my college years and thought I would remember the layout perfectly. Went inside . . . nope, complete opposite! Why do we do this? Is it the perceptions our brain WANTS to save, hold on to? Or is it because the experiences we had in that specific place warp our memory to some extent?
There’s something in the Kansas land - Zeke and Luna know and they REFUSE, haha!
Zesta!
🙏🏻☺️
This photo is also not me.
I freaking love you.
Why wont Zeke pee in Kansas? Loved this; thank you.
Your May 2020 note of ‘All the things I didn’t think to question at the time’ really resonates. It could be the writing perspective for a day, week, year, life. Because no matter what we learn as we go, the retrospect view always reveals more. Thanks so much for sharing your words here, I love reading about your life.
Back from a canyon with no service and catching up. If I never drive I40 across the Texas Panhandle again in this or any future lives it will still be too soon. I let out an audible sigh of relief as we crossed the border into New Mexico.
I have a Samsung. I can't get myself to say "Hi Bixby..."
Anyway, thanks for this beauty.