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 was just a kid when I started college.  I’d never been away from home and I had no idea how the world worked outside of a 50 mile radius of that house on a hill in Nowhere, MS.  But, even so, I was a dreamer.  I guess I always have been I just hadn’t put […]

Posted in crazy dreams, friendcitos, rambling 10 Comments »

Once upon a time long, long ago and far, far away there was a little log cabin on a street in a small, small town.  And inside the cabin was a girl whose heart beat heavily within her.  It beat for peoples unknown and places unseen and stories untold and the sound of the beating […]

Posted in writing 10 Comments »

“Did you have a good sleep?” he’d ask me every morning and my answer was always the same.  “Yes, sir.” My last day working at Port Hacking, Atto told me he’d miss being called Sir and to this day if I answer my mom with a “yes” there’s a “yes, what?” that comes quickly on its heels.  […]

Posted in colombia, home, teaching 12 Comments »

Snoozing on the first leg of the trip. Catching some shut eye on the final leg, too. And here are a few from along the way. About ten minutes into our three hour hike through the Amazon jungle. This was the easy part.  The 40 meter climb up the tree — not so much. Sunset […]

Posted in colombia, travel 7 Comments »

I need to take a deep, cleansing breath. Because if I don’t some folks might die today and that’s just not becoming of a lady, now is it? A list should suffice as the aforementioned deep, cleansing breath. I cannot expect people to value my time as much as I do. Manizales weather does NOTHING […]

Posted in colombia, friendcitos, home, rambling 5 Comments »

I am fascinated by people. There’s a young man sitting on the porch of a house next to the river.  His boots are standing neatly on the floor beside him, mud on their soles.  His skin is dark and rich and his hair is askew.  There are books scattered on the table around him each […]

Posted in colombia 1 Comment »

The taxi picked us up at 3:00 a.m. this morning and there was more waiting than I’d expected, but we are here at last. I’m lying beneath a mosquito net on a bed in a room with no true walls.  The edges of the sheer material are tucked snugly beneath my thin mattress and I feel like […]

Posted in colombia 5 Comments »

I know.  I know.  I promised Saturday, but by the end of this post you’ll feel sorry for me.  And if you don’t, just don’t tell me.  I like to believe that the world is sympathetic.  Thanks. Yes, I had a fantastic trip to the Amazon.  It was all that I expected and more.  It […]

Posted in rambling, travel 13 Comments »

That could be because she isn’t with me…. Nonetheless, I’m off to the Amazon! It’s October break here and three friends and I are headed out in the morning at a not-so-bright 3:00.  IN THE A.M.! I have no clue where we’re staying or what we’re doing or what to pack or how my Spanish […]

Posted in friendcitos, travel 8 Comments »