pauseforeffect

It’s a perfect night for a run.  I snap the leash on my dog Beaux, and tie up my running shoes. Outside, the moon is bright and mist dances across the hidden mountain valleys.  I am standing in a breathtaking panorama; the mountains look like they are the texture of velvet and the sky is a deep navy, diamond-studded bowl. I feel so small and fragile standing with tall pines to my back and the enormous openness in front of me.  I feel like I should be raising my hands in worship or maybe even surrender; like the Inuit people of the north at the first sunrise of the year. Still holding on to Beaux’s leash, I bend down and stretch ou

As I work standing in front of the huge floor to ceiling storefront windows at the marble countertop. I stare out into the street, watching the world.  At slower points through out the night most of the staff can be seen here as well, gazing out into the less safe, less clean world of our little town.   Katie, Kelly and I are doing just that.  Standing at the window, watching the sun and the world as it goes on around our little Italian restaurant.  We watch the cold wind and its effects on the people in that outside world as we stand in the still stagnant heat of the pizza oven.   Becki and Yaffe emerge from the door to the upstairs apartm

My physics teacher walks into our biology class, he has trapped something between a beaker and a purple pocket folder.  A winged something that flutters like a heartbeat.   After he sets it down on our table, I catch my breath, it’s a Luna moth and it’s one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The purest green wings graced by white-blue veins, they move ever so slightly, up and down, in a secret pulse.  The contrast between the deep purple of the folder and the untainted shade of those wings catches the eye in an amazing way.  It’s a form so calm and natural that it lifts my spirits.  I feel like a child as I wonder

Sinking into the pillow, I lick the salt off of my lips.  I savor a minute of absolute quiet and emptiness before I begin to let the events of the night sink past skin level.  Maybe I should sit up, talk, question, and leave.  Maybe I should oxidize this strange feeling that is in my stomach.   No, I don’t dare move and face reality, let reality wait in the doorway with my shoes.  For now; I keep my eyes closed.  Ignorance is bliss. It’s so quiet; I can hear my own breathing and the breathing next to me. I hold my breath so as to be sure of its existence. My body feels almost numb, and I am still silently sweating.  I feel my pe