Confidence - stories

A zillion years ago a friend told me of a dilemma she had that concerned a friend. How should she handle the situation? Should she tell the friend? She told me to keep the story under my hat.

I kept shtum.

Soon after, the friend began reciting the tale at the drop of a hat.

The odd thing isn't that she changed her mind about openness. It came out that she'd told half a dozen (or more) people her troubles. She'd sworn us all to secrecy.

I sometimes wonder what triggered both the repetition (sub rosa) and the sudden openness.

Observation - accents

One of his virtues has always been that he picked up accents. As a result, he speaks both a fairly elegant French (no doubt the "pure Touraine"), and Argot. When he lived in England he switched from standard American speech to more or less standard British speech to thick Fen speech with no effort. His voice aped those he spoke with.

When he came back from England he shifted away from the English accent, though he can do it on command.

Now though,his accent is more New York - more nasal, sans R-coloring. Perhaps he's around too many New Yorkers

Observation - alert

One night when I was walking the dogs I noticed that they were completely alert. Now it`s not as though they tended to ignore their surroundings. As a general rule however, their interests were the smells of the ground or trees, especially traces of other dogs.

That night their heads were up, their ears cocked forward.

I looked around. Three men had made awide triangle around us. One in front, two behind on either side of the street.

Once they realized I`d seen them, they and their formation faded away, after a final clash against a car door.

Patience - planning

An aquaintance is a genuine risk taker. She was a dancer, a chef, a restauranteur, a martial artist.

In her mid forties she decided to become a doctor.

Remember, she was a dancer originally, so her college course work was not only twenty years out of date, but completely unscientific.

She took two years of college level science courses before the tests previous to medical school.

She went to the school that took her (and it wasn't easy to find one fairly local).

She changed her entire life.

That's a real willingness to commit.


She's a resident now.

She'll practice.

Summer of love - togetherness

Why are things sometimes so difficult?

Best laid (pun intended) plans ...

The strain mounts as things go off kilter.

Each of us has demons, they all conspire to blindside us.

Forgetting to trust.

Forgetting to sleep.

Forgetting to eat.

But oh! The moments when you peer at me and smile.

Sensuous and sensual memories demand my attention when you stretch out your leg or turn towards me.

There are times we both chortle over the turn of phrase as you say something clever.

Your sudden kindness.

Summer seeps into us. Joy suffuses us. Peace steals over us. Love is easy. .

Summer of love - camp!

This is the second or third summer that they sent the children to camp . The kids enjoy it. They're with each other and friends.

The parents have a chance to spend two weeks exploring each other or going off together.

They take long weekends away, sometimes they lounge around the house doing no chores at all. They're out later, no need for a sitter.

The time together gives the couple something, maybe many somethings. Perhaps relaxation, maybe renewal of their marriage. Clearly it's not just sex.

They're happy when the kids are back yet wistful that they're no longer alone.