A Story About A Plant: Parts 1–4

An End… — The dieffenbachia thrived once I moved it to the living room in front of the mirror. It became the star of my plant kingdom, its leaves taking focus and garnering comments in every mirror selfie I posted. Cute outfit but TELL ME ABOUT THAT PLANT?! I was amazed at how…

A Growth… — I started to stack plants and pots as soon as I moved. The previous tenant left behind a struggling aloe, and a dying monstera deliciosa on the porch. I avoided it for nearly six months. It was not my energy. It had been some kind of gift to them and…

A Home… — I moved into this apartment in January of 2019 but I first saw it in fall 2018 when word came to through friends that the person who had lived here for ten years was in Brazil and might be moving out altogether. It was a coveted space, part of a…

A Plant… — I’d like to tell you a story about a plant. It’s in four parts: A friend who had worked as a high school teacher for years and who seemed to have built much of her whole identity around social justice and community service went to work for a tech company…

It is the end of everything which is another way of saying it is the beginning of everything. It is the end of the day which is to say it is the beginning of the stars and the beams of moonlight bathing the chuparosas and the ponderosa pines. It is…

Lately I’ve been remembering when my children were little. It was frustrating and exhausting. Just a few days ago their mother and I were laughing about how the funny thing about having little kids is how you could be pushing a stroller through a park on a sunny day, your…

My mother died in my arms. I say that sentence all the time because its power never ceases to stop me in my tracks and quiet my mind. I am happy that I got to hold her as she transitioned from here, a place we only barely understood but were…

Where I am the winds are blowing so forcefully that the house creaks and rattles and the trees bend in a way that looks like they will break. I can see the ocean from this hill and even though it’s been here forever it always surprises with how vast and…

I went into the sauna and decided I would stay there until I saw god. It was 190 degrees, 12% humidity. I didn’t want to die, I just wanted to break for a moment from the surly bonds of the day. The confusion and fear, fatigue at work, competing deadlines…