I underestimated life with a Border Collie and that included her spay recovery.
Ziggy, Ziggy, Ziggy.
Nothing is simple with this girl, I swear. She was spayed a week ago, and yet it feels like years have passed.
“Just keep her still and calm for 14 days,” the after-care paperwork read.
Our vet tech knew better. “She’s a border collie, it won’t be that simple.”
I packed her into the crate with her newly shaved and stitched parts and gathered the prescribed pain meds, sedatives, and more calming meds.
“You can double these if necessary,” the tech said, indicating the two calming medications.
“We will be fine,” I answered and instantly regretted my…
One woman escapes her glass prison.
Coco felt the car jerk and shudder beneath her feet. She tapped the brake gently and the vehicle lurched, coughed, and sputtered. A semi blew past at 75 miles per hour, sending the leaves and Coco’s small car to the side of the road. She shakily pulled the key from the ignition, her breath coming in shuddering gasps.
Just a few minutes. Just a few minutes and I’ll start the car, get back on the road, she thought. I just need a minute. Come on, Coco. Get your shit together.
She checked her watch and cursed under her breath. Coco…
I wished someone had given me this advice before I found my haters.
I’m a storyteller by nature. My children will tell you they are scarred by the ridiculous cautionary tales I made up over the years. Even Christmas trees can come to life and maim children who try to steam the tape off their presents before December 25, just ask them.
I tell you this so that you know I don’t discriminate against cryptozoological creatures, just the cowards that roam the internet simply to stir the pot, shame, and bully strangers. Yes, I’m talking about the non-rainbow toy, non-Grimm penned, hate-filled trolls who feed on the vulnerability of others.
I wish someone…
A past kindness changed my life and had an unexpected ripple effect.
My daughter is a nurse, a fact of which I am immensely proud. At only 23, she has handled the children and the elderly, the fatally ill and the marginally injured alike, with expert care. Even though her profession began in the middle of a pandemic, she persevered by following protocols and minding the rules.
Part of the formula for her success is that she believes in those rules. She believes in order and structure. But I wonder what my little rule-follower would do for a patient outside of those carefully constructed margins? What would she do if, say, a…
Humor
Some stories are so ridiculous they can only be true.
I arrive at the restaurant to meet my friend, Bob, for lunch. He is late, so we immediately sit down and order our $3 “Chicks and Eggs” special with a couple of steaming cups of joe. Our chosen meeting place is ChickenHaus, a Garland staple, at least if the staple was rusted nearly in half and stained with a century of nicotine vapors. The old vinyl booths have cracks that could pinch a plug out of a bare thigh and the tables are so de-laminated that getting a splinter while enjoying an afternoon meal is a high probability. …
Three little words can mean so much between a parent and child.
Three little words.
“I hate you,” she screamed in anger, a mere foot from my face.
I took a deep breath and counted to ten for both of our sakes. Truthfully, I could have counted to ten thousand and I’m not sure it would have made a difference.
My blood was boiling at her blatant disrespect. My heart was crushed under the weight of her words. Her hateful stare full of malice had me equally ready to slap it off her face or run crying to my room. …
When falling in love failed, I tried to disappear into the clouds instead.
The breeze blows, whipping my dress around my calves. I stare up into the hazy afternoon sky, momentarily unaware of my surroundings. My head is in the clouds, my focus on the fluffy cumulus cotton interspersed with cerulean blue. A honk from a passing car alerts me that my dress has risen higher on a gust with my thighs flashing bright white in the dull afternoon. But I am above it all, lost in my own thoughts and sleeplessly dreaming.
The small plane leaves the county airfield rising into the distant blue to join the clouds. With a single thought…
What I thought of as a cliché has become the central theme of my life.
The tea spilled out of the pot, dripped down the counter, and flowed across the floor. Rivulets of honey brown liquid followed the grout line to the edge of the cabinets and then disappeared out of view. I stood there just staring at the tea and then at my hand like some sort of simpleton, as if I couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.
Frustration bubbled up in the form of a sudden sob and I choked it back while accidentally slamming the pot against the counter. Shards of glass shot in ten different directions as I closed my eyes…
I finally understand this stage of motherhood.
I’m wide awake after only a couple of hours of sleep. I stare blankly at the ceiling as the tears fall quietly. Yesterday, my family had Christmas together. Today, I feel lost and empty.
What now? my brain screams into the silence.
I ask myself this question after every holiday, every family gathering. Each year, I plan for months and make novel-length to-do lists. I sweat bullets and lose my mind trying to get the house ready for company — company, I might add, that couldn’t care less about the state of my home or whether the tablecloth is ironed.
…
He doesn’t know how I burn for him.
My perfume has soured in the suffocating heat. Instead of “passion with a touch of dark musk,” I smell vaguely like black pepper and freshly mowed grass with an undercurrent of desperation. I pound the still hot pavement heading for the neon lights of the bar. I stumble on the broken pavement and curse myself for choosing high heels. It isn’t as if he’ll notice my new stilettos or the way my calves curve from a month of squats. He might not even notice me at all.
I hate what I’ve chosen to wear. Sweat pools in the small of…
Mindi Boston
Woman, mother, lover, writer. I was once a journalist, and freelance writer, but now I am retired early and writing for myself.
