It all makes perfect sense. One singular hour bridges the gap of thirty years and quite elegantly connects then to now.Back then, she and I were eight years old. We were best-friends. We went to an all girl’s school and wore purple uniforms. Shoulder length hair or longer was to be tied up in a […]
moreA mood ring. We noticed it in a local shop here, in this beach village I’m at with my son and niece. It had little butterflies on it. My niece immediately fell for it, even though it was too big. “A mood ring?” she asked. I explained – “it changes colour according to your mood.” […]
moreI am in a ‘house by the sea’ with my son and niece. An hour ago, she announced she is homesick. She did so in a goofy, 7-yr-old-girly way. Shy and smiling, yet her voice quaky. What is homesickness, exactly? It is still light outside so it can’t have been fear.I think back to when […]
moreCommunity workers were testing the playground pool and temporarily filled it with water. As none of the parents had expected this, the best option was to let the kids shed all their clothes. They splashed around naked, ecstatic. This is Amsterdam, as it was. We used to be groovy, we used to be wild, we […]
moreA young woman wonders about who she is. She has been adopted. She asks a tv-programme to help her find her mother. And they do: mother lives in a psychiatric institution in Colombia. She is a paranoid schizofrenic and has been locked up there for thirty years. Nobody visits her. The young woman does. She […]
moreThey practice until their fingers bleed. And you? You sing and sing until nothing holds you back anymore. Neither mind nor body.I stand here, you say. Please listen. Where do you leave your hands if they’re not holding words? Next to your body. You don’t need them. Nor the violins behind you. I told you […]
moreLittle girl. Aren’t you gorgeous? How old are you? Seven? You flash your baby-blue eyes at me. You’re shy, but you want to be cool. So you sip your coca-cola. It has a slice of lemon in it. Very grown-up like. You pout your lips, and stare over your glass. You have already mastered a […]
moreAn email from my sister this morning – “was it magical? what did you talk about?” She was referring to my birthday dinner yesterday evening, with my significant other.It took me a while to figure out the answer to both questions. And still, I’m not entirely sure what we talked about. I suppose it’s related […]
moreSo there it is. Almost three years of writing (more realistically: one year of writing and two years of rewriting) behind me. And it’s time to let go. As I hit ‘send’ and the file reaches my publisher, I feel relieved for a split-second. Yet also sad.That’s it, it’s out of my hands. It’s up […]
moreMy parents are in Spain. The Camino de Santiago. Dad is cleaning toilets in a monastery’s hostel, while mum walks to Santiago. I have no idea where they are exactly. Or how they are.I’ve been thinking about this.I saw my sisters the other day. It was my nephew’s birthday and so we were busy doing […]
more