You never know it is the end of an empire the day the empire ends. No one mentions when you are buying your last case of champagne at Costco to enjoy it while it lasts. Water has been flowing through the aqueducts for years: it never even occurred to...

I had been listening to some guests at the Christmas party argue about Costa Rican politics for half an hour before I started to get antsy. It was one of those arguments that, if you talked to the people having it the next day, at least one of them...

I had a dream this week in which Basil and some of our friends had put together a memorial slide show for my father. I do not know which friends were with Basil in the dream–I just felt their presence, like a medium on so many corny ghost hunting...

Handshake or hug? Handshake or hug? Handshake or hug? The din of Stanley’s attempt at decision-making was crescendoing in his head as he pulled the car into the driveway. For a moment it had gotten so loud it had dampened the endless patter of his husband and his husband’s...

Prior to shaving his hair to a mohawk style and dying the mohawk a deep ocean blue, Jacob had carefully considered which artificial hair color would match his suits best. He had been wavering between red and navy all week. Jacob had finally decided on navy after he had...

“That is not a mountain, that is a hill,” I say to my husband. “That is not a hill, it is a mountain!” my husband says to me. We stand at the bottom of the mill/hountain in Avoca. A wind from the Irish Sea is carrying away what remains...

It was late on a Wednesday night in April 1998. I am adjusting the rearview mirror on my father’s white Toyota Camry, attempting to back out of my parent’s oddly shaped driveway. I have the driver’s side window rolled down and the smell of orange blossoms from the groves...

EXTERIOR: Trader Joe’s, approximately 6 pm INTERIOR: James, a professional in his late 30’s, standing in the wine aisle. His eyes study the labels of red wines falling in the $8.00 to $15.00 range, a look of thoughtful indecision on his face. James lets out a long sigh and...

The weekend I spent packing as I prepared to leave my first husband was like bringing ice breaker questions to life. “What three things would you take to a desert island?” “If your house was burning down, what would you carry with you on the way out?” I had...

“A friend of mine at work scored us free tickets to the White Sox game tomorrow night. I have never been to a White Sox game.” I was talking to my aunt on the phone as I stood in my hotel room, ironing the work clothes I would wear...