“If there’s a thug within a hundred mile radius, you’re gonna date him,” Daddy told me late that afternoon.  I tried to pretend like he wasn’t right, but I knew better. Daddy was always right. He was an about-to-be Marine– tall and handsome with hands as big as nighttime.  Not Daddy, the thug,  I mean.  […]

Posted in family 5 Comments »

I was never the little girl that dreamed about dresses that swooshed.  I dreamed about mud huts in Africa and unexplored jungles in the Amazon.  I dreamed about writing books and being a back-up singer for Reba.  Those were my fairy tales. At least I thought they were. And if you’re interested there are some […]

Posted in family 9 Comments »

I’ve had lots of hard days in Colombia.  I’m woman enough to admit that. There was the Virus o’ Death and the time I made a scene in an airport. There was the apartment flood and the day my computer crashed.  Oh, and that one particular ride home from the valley when I nearly tossed […]

Posted in family 3 Comments »

We’re sitting in her living room, the smell of peanut butter and marshmallows hanging in the air like day-old birthday balloons.  The heat of a Mississippi summer and the buzz of an oscillating fan are lulling me to sleep and Gran is rocking in her blue chair. She’s humming a song she’s made up as […]

Posted in family 4 Comments »

My brother works entirely too hard.  He’s successful and good with finances and long term planning.  He can fit in at a dinner with more forks than he needs and he’s right at home with a bunch of small town rednecks talking about hunting season or cleaning fish. He’s versatile like that. Brother reads this […]

Posted in family, friendcitos, teaching 4 Comments »

I love it when that old man calls me.  He makes me laugh and feel like I’m still his little girl. Most of the time a song we love is playing on the radio and he turns up the volume so we can both hear it. And sometimes he’s thinking of a song we love […]

Posted in family 6 Comments »