In fact, divorce is full of first-time moments. I just waved my 5-yr-old goodbye for the first time. He will be staying with Dad for 3 nights. This is going to be our new weekly routine. I’ve often gone away to write, and Dad has often gone away for work. People say “so you’re used […]
moreThere’s a first time for everything. A first move, from one home to the next. Becomes the tenth, maybe twentieth. I have never moved back to a place before. That’s a first. To then experience nothing has changed, and so neither have you. You can’t have, if everything else is still the same. Some first […]
moreHere we go again. Tragedy strikes and once again evil has taken the form of an angry, white man. People die. Kids. The world is in shock. Again we are treated to image after image of bodies, oceans of flowers, anonymous white people sob and hold each other. Analysis after analysis of why. Neighbours are […]
moreHow does one tell a Muslim friend about a separation? I avoided her for a while which is hard because she is my neighbour. I somehow hoped she’d figure it out as I was never at home, and even if I was, I was very much engaged in carrying heavy boxes. Recently, we had gone […]
moreAnd then there’s this: I have chat with a friendly father at school. His wife is ill. He has taken a year off from work so that she can focus entirely on getting better. We have spoken a few times about her illness, he has explained how they don’t like to dwell on the situation, […]
moreJust as you’re thinking a day can’t get any worse some guy in a Jaguar with way to big tires yells at you. “This is all your fault!” he screams out of his window. Say what? Oh so it’s my fault I have two kids on my bike, one of them is crying as he […]
moreLike parenting, illness, or losing a job, divorce is one of those things in life you only fully understand once you experience it. Someone once said, “the argument that so many people get divorced, and so many people get cancer, doesn’t make the experience any less grave once you go through it yourself.” Divorce is not […]
moreAll over there is sadness. Over and over again. A circle of years that breathes down your neck and trips you. There is beauty too, all over. A friend’s kiss is as gentle as a butterfly’s wings. As meaningful as a message carved in stone. And there is this: the midget resurfaces from hidden years. […]
more8th January 1983. “Hi, Sorry about the pencil, but I can’t be bothered to find my pencil-case. Electricity is off again. Guess what? I have an ingrowing toe nail, which means a sharp piece of nail grows into your skin. Tomorrow before school we have to go to Martin’s dad who is a doctor. I […]
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