The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: Reality

  • People Who Go Poof

    I don’t think I’ll respond well to my first serious earthquake. Of course I won’t. But it will hit me on a variety of levels because I take great comfort in thinking that things are unyielding. I like things that I can touch– things right before my eyes, and I like to be able to…

  • Mixed Signals

    When I was seven years old, I was walking into school with my best friend when a boy grabbed her arm and started dragging her down the sidewalk. I didn’t know this boy (I didn’t know any boys, really), so it scared me quite a bit. Loyal friend that I am, I started beating him…

  • The Story of How We Met

    I had been in this strange little relationship for 15 years. It wasn’t bad. No passion, per se, but it beat a sharp stick in the eye. We were just cruising along on automatic pilot, probably because we were both afraid of being alone. And then we were at this backyard bar-b-cue and he decided…

  • Another Drawbridge Story

    Recently I wrote a blog entry called How Soon We Forget, about a unique encounter I had with a fisherman on the job, and how I reacted when he passed away. That was a story that has weighed heavily on my mind for years, and it was good to get it out. There have been…

  • Skydiving at Seventy-Three

    When a heavy cloak of depression settles down upon my shoulders, I tend to feel as if life has passed me by. I start to ask myself what the point could possibly be, and when I’m unable to answer that question I give up hope, and start resigning myself to my fate. Why even try?…

  • What People Want to Believe

    A Facebook friend of mine recently posted a cute picture of a teacup pig on her page, and a half a dozen people responded along the lines of, “Oooh, I want one!!!” “Soooo cute!” Of course, I had to be the bubble-burster. I said, “Yeah, they’re cute until they get to be 100 pounds and…

  • The IDEA of You

    I was talking to a friend the other day, and she said, “I don’t miss my mother. I miss the idea of my mother.” I could understand that completely. First of all, I got to know her mother before she passed away a decade ago, and the woman was as hard as nails. She’d say…

  • Musical Torture

    I’m glowing. There are stars in my eyes. I’m humming under my breath, and I’ve got a silly, satisfied grin on my face. I just watched On A Clear Day You Can See Forever on DVD, starring Barbra Streisand and Yves Montand. God, how I hate musicals. I’m so easily caught up in the fantasy.…

  • Marriage Contracts

    I was listening to Weekend Edition on NPR the other day, and they were discussing the fact that in Israel, a woman cannot get divorced without her husband’s permission. Even a secular woman in that country is bound by this ancient Jewish practice. So if you have a vindictive husband with nothing to lose (the…

  • Fictionalized Worldviews

    I used to work with a woman who was so in love with the idea of being a Southern Belle that she would blanch (Or perhaps I should say Blanche in this instance) at the word “toilet”. She insisted that a lady would only use the word “commode” and then only if forced into that…