Focus

A Photo I Almost Didn’t Take

I found a photo on my phone from two years ago — me at a café I used to work from on Fridays, laptop...

What I Was Missing While I Was Rushing

"Forever is composed of nows." —— Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson I no...

The Bread I Didn’t Have a Reason to Make

It was a slow Tuesday with no deadlines and nothing that urgently needed doing, which is the kind of...

What She Said at the End of the Appointment

I'd been seeing my therapist for about eight months when she said something I wasn't expecting. We w...

Thirty Extra Seconds

I was running late, arms full of groceries, watching the elevator doors start to close from halfway ...

I Said “Maybe Some Other Time” and Meant It

A coworker invited me to her birthday dinner — nothing big, just a handful of people at a restaurant...

Things I Didn’t Know I’d Miss About Being Younger

"In youth we learn; in age we understand." — Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, Aphorisms When ...

When Someone Isn’t Who You Needed Them to Be

"We accept the love we think we deserve." —— Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wall...

The coffee shop regular

I'd been going to the same coffee shop every morning for three weeks, same seat, same oat latte, sam...

Stranger on the subway

It was raining, I was late, and I'd been crying in the quiet way that fools nobody. I sat on the F t...