When You Took Your Life; Aftermath

Soon, it will have been three years since you died by suicide. Three years since the day I sat in my car outside your place with my cellphone pressed to my ear, requesting a welfare check from the non-emergency police line. It was a Friday and you hadn’t shown up to work. Your car was… Continue reading When You Took Your Life; Aftermath

Combustion, Combat

My stomach has been tight with fear today. It's been building all week, a fire slowly being stoked right underneath my chest cavity. I've tried to ignore it, but fear has a sneaky way of slipping through the cracks. I have learned over the past years that pretending my house isn't on fire doesn't keep… Continue reading Combustion, Combat

The Eye of the Earth is Forever

Every moment we have is temporary. There is something wired in us to believe in the infinite - (an ever expanding universe, the gods of our ancestors, souls of the departed) and that seeps into the minutes of our days and nights. But nothing is actually guaranteed. This time next year, things will be different.… Continue reading The Eye of the Earth is Forever

Silent alarms and birthday songs

(Originally written and posted on Facebook October 8, 2017) Last year, it was on Saturday. We had no grand plans of celebration - it was just the two of us and a shared pizza and it was exactly as it was supposed to be. There was a man with a guitar and a microphone and… Continue reading Silent alarms and birthday songs

Falling Together Again

On the day before my one year anniversary of sobriety, I turned to Caryn and said "I'm afraid no one will come." We were outside on a smoke break at work, and I was referring to the sit-in that was happening that night. What I understand now is, I really meant "I'm afraid I'm not… Continue reading Falling Together Again