GPOYW - Working With My Boss edition
Retching me out since 2008.
Sincerely,
Sally B.
[video]
“I am a man of few and simple words… like, ‘yes.’” —
coworker
As you probably guessed, this guy is a workplace keeper.
Sincerely,
Sally B.
I have this dream where I’m on a beach, and I know it well.
The sun shines brighter here. The ocean is the color of my father’s eyes. I can feel the salt in the air. It sticks to my legs and arms, but I barely notice.
Down the beach, my parents are walking together, picking up shells, the waves crashing against their ankles. They seem like the kind of old friends who have known each other long enough to walk for miles and say nothing.
I can hear my sisters’ voices, and then I see them lying on a few chairs in their bathing suits. They have wet hair, and they are basking in the sun and laughing at something silly the other has just said. Their smiles look like mine.
My cousins are splashing in the surf. They’re only children. They look small, like a thousand other kids who live only for building sandcastles, before life gets much harder.
I see my grandfather, my mother’s father, in the distance and he is a young man. He’s holding a woman’s hand, and though I can’t see her face, I know it is my grandmother Sally. She is strong and beautiful, and I feel safe watching them together.
The sea turtles are laying eggs this time of year; their nests dot the beach, and I wonder if I’ll ever see them hatch and swim out in the moonlight… the moonlight and the phosphorus… How could I forget a handful of warm summer nights and that salty wet darkness surrounded by sparkles. I remember gripping my uncle’s shoulders while he swam along under the waves, holding his breath so I could watch the underwater fireworks. I was scared then - of sharks and jellyfish mostly - but now I can only remember the thrill of bobbing along like a fish in the dark.
There are splashes, and I turn to find a 7-year-old version of myself learning to dive. My father is in the pool, and he holds his arms out. He wants me to dive over them. A perfect 10, he says. I’m getting better, diving higher, he tells me.
Behind me, my father’s father is making a group of men laugh, loud and deep, with a story that is probably only half true. My grandmother serves them lunch, the same way she has a million times before. I laugh because she is always feeding people. Always. It’s her love, I suppose.
My aunt’s smooth gestures and my uncles attentive nods pass through the air like low-hanging clouds; I can see them just as clearly under a nearby palm tree. Their voices are a familiar soundtrack to the warm sun and sand. They are telling me about our family, uncles and aunts whose names and lives I know, but whose faces I’ve only seen in black and white photographs.
It’s their beach, after all. And that is why I see my family when I’m here, even in my dreams.
It’s quiet now. The only sounds belong to seagulls and the surf. There is a soft breeze.
“In my day, we didn’t have Twilight or The Hunger Games. We had Judy Blume and we learned valuable life lessons, like spying on your siblings, making friends and buying your first bra.” —
moi
Brought to you by “Sally B.’s Facts of Life.”
Sincerely,
Sally B.
[video]
Hangout time
Had my first Google+ Hangout experience with the favorites last week. I love how much we love us. We’re all over the world, but we can still find time to see each other, even if it is via the internetz. Five friends, four time zones, lots of happiness.
Sincerely,
Sally B.
“That’s why I came to Alabama, to get away from ‘the girl’ …that bitch, slut, whore… but I editorialize.” —
the boss on broken hearts
Sincerely,
Sally B.
Hunger Games: WHY AM I JUST FINDING OUT THAT THEY SHOT THIS BITCH NEAR HIGHLANDS, NC -
Highlands, North Carolina is one of my favorite places on the planet. I have loved it longer than I have loved champagne, so that’s saying something. I reference it, and the many adventures which have taken place there with my favorites, all the time on this blog. Now you know.
Sincerely,
Sally B.
Fridays are for daydreaming.
Sincerely,
Sally B.
“I FEEL LIKE I’M IN ROAD HOUSE!” —
a comment from yours truly on the state of my workplace
If I’m being honest, it’s more like a combination of Road House, Romper Room and Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
Sincerely,
Sally B.
[video]
GPOYW - I’ve Been Making This Face Since the Dodgers Left Brooklyn edition
Sincerely,
Sally B.