There are clues, you know. Certain phrases she uses. The way she listens to people without over-identifying. The way she makes mediation look like slicing through soft butter. I’ve come to terms with it: Paul and I are raising a mini school counselor. I mean, I’m totally cool with it. She’s like Paul in a […]
Read more "You Might Be Raising a School Counselor"I had a dream the other night. A nightmare, really, in which I received a phone call from Paul that broke my chest wide open, as if my ribs were but papier-mâché, my lungs a dangling diorama. “Do you know where Elie is?” he asked. “Tell me you’re kidding,” I said. “Isn’t she with you?” […]
Read more "On How to Feel"Truly, I am sorry. I hope you were not in a meeting with your CEO or describing your bowels to the internist or standing still on one foot, clutching your prayer beads, as the scorpion backed away. I hope you were not, with great anticipation of all the feels, consummating your marriage or defending your […]
Read more "I’m Sorry My Son FaceTimed You from a Bathroom Stall in Target"I first heard her say it several weeks ago. She was walking up the last leg of the ramp that leads to our apartment when she sighed and suddenly became an 83-year-old woman: “All the problems…” she said. Sometimes Elie Mae will insert an “it’s” beforehand, as in, “It’s all the problems.” Never does she […]
Read more "All The Problems"ABSTRACT: Tophs’ successful surgery imbued him with special powers that must be harnessed. It also improved his quickstep. FULL TEXT: It begins with an innocuous shuffle in the grocery store. He unleashes the power of the Broken Eagle Wing dance by bending one arm so that the elbow points ahead like a compass. Where the […]
Read more "Let Him Hold You"My sister Sienna gave me a quarter-sized silver frog back in high school. I think it came attached to a birthday card. I don’t believe in good luck or its charms, but I kept that frog in the back pocket of my jeans every day until it got lost in the wash. I would take […]
Read more "Never Alone"Sometimes words are corny or trite until they hit your ears at just the right moment. Become your revelation. Elie Mae likes to watch me cook. She stands on a stool in the kitchen and asks to stir batter or pour water or sprinkle cheese. Monday morning, as she was stirring an ice cube into […]
Read more "In Elie’s Words"