Writing

New Year’s Day Dinner Superstitious or not, I made sure my first dinner of the new year included yellow food, green food and black eyed peas. My Hoppin’ John wasn’t as “hopping” as I would have hoped since I used the chicken broth found in the pantry rather than looking for the spicy version. No … Continue reading »

I started off my Christmas celebration dressing up as Santa’s Helper for the last Chair Dance class before the holiday. My instructor, dressed as the iconic Jack Skellington from “The Nightmare before Christmas,” was the only other person in costume. Although I usually video my weekly chair dance routine to mark my progress, I normally … Continue reading »

I’m not sure if I should refer to myself as an “emerging” or a “recovering” entrepreneur. Certainly, when I was an independent contractor, first as a health/life insurance agent, then as a customer service representative, I made money. That was the closest I came to my entrepreneurial dreams of working for myself, making money, setting … Continue reading »

The most terrifying thing about this pose was falling backwards and trusting that the hammock would catch me. Obviously, I have more faith in the hammock than I have that people would catch me during a so-called trust fall. Once, I overcame that apprehension, I had to build up my tolerance for being suspended by … Continue reading »

Since relocating, I’ve been recreating my life. Not exactly the way it was in Austin since I was priced out of that city, but in a way that I can still enjoy being alive. I hadn’t counted on not finding something as seemingly basic as a book exchange. One of those take a book/leave a … Continue reading »

A few days before I journeyed back to NC, I dreamed my father and I were at a crowded mall. We’d planned to eat at one of the restaurants. I told him to have a seat in one of the open areas of the mall while I sped walked to the restaurant to put my … Continue reading »

In many ways, I returned home just in time. My parents had recently recovered from COVID. I’d hit a pandemic-induced stagnation. I’d been priced out of Austin. I hadn’t seen any of my immediate family in two and a half years. I’d saved up enough vacation time to take two weeks off for the relocation. … Continue reading »

Obviously, when I say “cashless,” it’s not like in my younger days, which was synonymous with “broke.” Now that I’m middle aged, I’m paycheck-to-paycheck broke, but that’s still not what I mean by “cashless.” In this day and age, I no longer touch cash. I thought we were all on the same page about this. … Continue reading »

So happy on my 1st day of vacation. Leading up to this glorious day, I’d been furiously packing up to donate, ship or load my things into my fuel-efficient car to relocate back home to NC. With average Austin rents rising 40% and average one-bedroom apartment rents increasing 108% from one year to the next, … Continue reading »