This piece is an intersection with the patient and talented beeker121, who also provided excellent concrit for me on it, despite my last-minute work. Check out her entry for the flip side of my Post-Mother's Day thoughts.

Trigger warning for a somewhat graphic description of my pretty normal C-section and some of my thoughts about it. All that is in the ( Read more... )

When last we left her, Bryn Stillwell, Private Investigator had just jumped off the side of a bridge in the middle of a thunderstorm, chasing the enigmatic, long missing Jim Sommers, and running from the hail of bullets fired at both of them by an unknown gunman. Bryn and Jim are treading water on the north side of the historic fishing bridge west ( Read more... )

This is life. This is the melancholy and fundamental truth of the reliable, vanilla, adult existence ( Read more... )

I turned my back to the dying fire and crab-walked the six feet or so to the edge of the ridge we were camping along. I was sore and every muscle was just tired enough not to want to stand all the way up and then get back down again. But I wanted to finish my beer with my legs dangling down into the unknown, looking out at the distant town lights ( Read more... )

Aaron Gilbert braced for the blast of warm air as he let himself out of the big old office building, and was surprised when he strode out into relatively cool sunshine. The sun coming through his boss's window had looked like it was cruelly baking, but maybe that was only the mood he was in ( Read more... )

On Saturday, I was in a terrible mood when I got a text from Ryan inviting me to the rock gym. Our new carpet was installed on Tuesday, but I wasn't here at the house for it's installation. Roger was here. I was at work. So when the carpet guys were hurried because of truck trouble landing them at the house late, I wasn't watching and there ( Read more... )

It was one of the dumber things I've done, I suppose. But also possibly one of the better. I'm still conflicted. The story hasn't played all the way out, I guess. Honestly on things like this, it's really hard to know ( Read more... )

It has been too long ( Read more... )

"Isn't it depressing, though? Don't you feel sorry for them? I couldn't do it, day after day, seeing how terrible it was for them. Studying history hurts. It's a wonder we survived it, really ( Read more... )

She sits in a camp chair at the edge of the water, toes in the river, contemplative. Two and a half years now that she's been back in this place, at the edge of the gulf. Half the reason for the move back was family. They'd needed to slow down, to make time for the important things together ( Read more... )