Things I Remember

Blueberry muffins

I remember lentil soup homemade by an old Jewish woman. I remember the warmth of a hand held during a personal discussion. I remember the smell of blueberry muffins from the oven. I remember the way butter melts. I remember the taste of a kiss.

10 Things That Make Me Happy

My cats
They greet me at the door, wake me up if my alarm doesn’t go off, snuggle with me when it’s cold, are constant entertainment, take care of each other too, communicate with me in their own way, and are generally oh so cute.

Butterflies
I like to follow their flitting paths through the sky, they seem so indirect and wandering, whichever way the wind blow, which is rather inspirting.

a hot meal on a cold day
warms the stomach and the spirit. especially if includes a spice like cardamon

hugs
the physical closeness helps to break down the boundaries that separate us. love and energy shared. symbiosis.

making collages
like a puzzle, making things fit together and work in harmony

Liking something I didn’t think I would
it’s a good feeling

Noticing the beauty in ordinary things
light reflecting from a campbell soup can lid…

Chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven
the dough still gooey and the chocolate melted…yum

Music
soothes the savage soul, even the Cerberus likes music, expresses so much, resonates

Spending time with my friends
friends are the family you chose

My Epic Road Trip

Toyota Matrix @ 26k miles

My most epic road trip that I would like to take would involve moving to the Southwest and driving there in my Toyota Matrix. In this fantasy, my dog that lives with my parents will not try to eat my cats, so I can take them all in the car with me. I'll keep the litter box on the back seat floor so the cats can go to the bathroom as needed, and I'll stop and walk Akira and Marko at rest areas. We would take a somewhat circuitous route through the midwest and northwest before coming back down and over in a half circle to the southwest and settle somewhere in Arizona or New Mexico.

To My Friends

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I ordered two shots of orange vodka. “That’ll take the edge off,” I smiled slightly.

“Yeah, for both of us,” Dee returned my half-smile.

Dee is one of my best friends and a party promoter. After recently losing his father, Dee was throwing himself into work as much as possible. Sunday night was the first night for a new weekly event, Soulful Sunday “The Perfect Chill” at Doc’s Place in Shadyside. It was also the night for my first poetry reading in over two years.  I was nervous because I hadn’t read in so long, and because I would be reading a lot of new material.

“To your reading,” Dee proposed a toast. We clinked glasses and threw it back. The DJ was getting set up, and the night was just getting started. I hugged Dee and headed off to my reading.

There, two more of my best friends came to support me, Mindy and Roger. After the reading, they were full of praise. Roger said he would handle promotion for my book, and I believe he meant it. I dropped by brownie icing first on the carpet, and Mindy snagged the last one for me. I write all this to say: I am blessed, truly blessed. In this lifetime, we are lucky if we have one true friend, and I am blessed with an abundance. I hope that I am able to be there for them as much as they have been there for me. My friends, I hope you know who you are, and I hope you know I am always here for you and I love you.

Friends of All Ages

For most of my life, my best friends have been older than me. As a highschool freshman, I hung out with the seniors, and then the next class of seniors until I was a senior myself and somewhat alone.  All of the men I have dated have been older than me, the oldest as much as 26 years older. So it was with some amount of surprise that I realized for the first time in my life I have as many friends who are younger than me as I do who are older than me. This, I realized, is because I am getting older, so the younger than me isn’t that young anymore!

Sometimes hanging out with a younger crowd has some amusing gaps in reference points. I came back into the room where Darrow (age 18) and Lil’ Trish (age 16) were sitting, looking through my records.

“Tell me these aren’t what I think they are,” said Darrow.

“Records?” I said not sure if that was what he was referring to.

“No, I mean these aren’t 40s?”

“They’re 45s,” I said, smiling.

“Aren’t those the big ones?”

“No, those are 33s.” This was amusing.

“Oh I said 31s or something.”

“Why don’t you sell them? Lil’ Trish asked. “Who has these? I’d be getting on e-bay.”

“Because I listen to them,” I explained.

“On what?” she looked around the room.

“On that.” I pointed.

“Oh I thought that was a suitcase.”

“It’s. My. Fisher Price. Record Player. From when I was a kid.” Amusing could turn to annoying rather quickly.

“Damn, Sarah, you are old.”

Thank you.