People find out my age and their face does a thing. Friends see me after a few weeks and say something. I smile politely like I do not know exactly why. I know exactly why.
She has more experience in her pinky than her boss has in his entire body. She is not bitter. She is not plotting. She is just sitting in the meeting, face completely neutral, watching someone make a decision she would have never made in this life or the next.
Walter has seen me crawl out of some dark places. That is why he gets homemade snacks, dehydrated liver, and blackberries I personally despise. Loyalty is everything. And in this house, it gets rewarded.
The soft life is not my reality. Not yet. But I am faking it enthusiastically, without apology, till the wheels fall off. Joy in the midst of trials is a blessing — and the charcuterie board is not going to eat itself.
Some wins. Some losses. Some plans in the trash and some still in progress. The mortgage is due and the inner doubtful-ness has moved in without paying rent. Sound familiar?
Friendship does not come naturally to me. I have to force myself sometimes — to reach out, to check in, to show up. I am working on it. I have been working on it my whole life.
I grow what I eat, plan around my travel schedule, and this year the cruciferous vegetables have been permanently uninvited. Gardening advice nobody gives you – grow what you like, not what you’re supposed to.
Everyone is talking about AI’s water problem. Nobody is connecting it to the power problem. And nobody is talking about which communities are absorbing both. That stops today.
I knew before I walked down the aisle. I stayed long after I knew it was a mistake. I kept waiting to feel ready to leave. That feeling never came. Here is what I learned about fear, procrastination, and moving anyway.