It started with a note, or rather, with behavior that others on the fourth floor found frustrating. It was a simple idea, really; use the washroom located on your own floor. Only, there was one toilet for women on each floor. When it was in use, you waited patiently or walked down a floor to use the one there. But for some, it was less about a free washroom and more about convenience. It was more convenient to use the washroom on your floor. It was more convenient to not have… Read More »The War of the Washroom Notes

Relationships are like interlocking circles. They sometimes retread over familiar ground, or go around and around and around again, to their detriment. Vicious cycles never seem to be complete; new circles are hard to create, hard to forge out of the emotional cycles of the past, even harder to complete. Walking a new path requires a whole new set of circles in your relationship, but when you are drawing one new circle and your partner is drawing another, how do you connect them, reconnect with them? How do you find your… Read More »Turning Circles

Insecurities arising through the steam in the bathroom. I wipe the mirror down and look hard at what is revealed. An older woman stares back at me. Wrinkles and red splotchy skin. Tired eyes. Sexy legs and pretty underwear. I’m wanted; I’m unwanted. Like an onion, you peel back the layers to get to the heart of it all, but you get stung in the process. Laughter and intimacy; insecurities and tears. A dream the night before of good friends praising you and then criticizing you in the same sentence.… Read More »Sting and Flavor

I felt like a grain of sand. A small speck of dust doing battle with a rolling, speeding wave. I wasn’t going to win this battle. I knew that; I expected it even. However, I hadn’t expected to feel so small against the incoming tower of water nor to feel so battered as it passed. How was I going to prevail against the wave? Not win, not just survive, but come out a brighter, shinier version of me? Because wasn’t that the point of it all? I wasn’t seeking a… Read More »Sand Solidarity

She walked into the room, her dress gently swaying against her bare legs. The sun from the window left hot patches of light on the floor and her bare feet alternated between warm slate and cool slate as she made her way across the room. The gentle murmur of conversation registered lightly on her ears. She could hear the tone of conversation, but not the actual words being spoken. It was like a creek bubbling in the background. As she moved further into the room, the conversation swelled behind her,… Read More »The Wave (Part 1)

It was a small disappointment, a small hurt. It was a small drop of water. But there were a million small hurts, a billion little disappointments, and the small drops of water had multiplied into a 30,000 gallon tank of relationship flotsam and jetsam. It sat squarely in our path, an obstacle to moving forward. There were objects in the tank, small mementos of past pain. The water swirled and moved in agitation, motivated by the energy of the emotions contained within it. Every so often, one memento would slide up to… Read More »Flotsam and Jetsam