We’re no longer young and naive. We’ve made most of the mistakes we’re going to make in our lives and we don’t care about the ones left to make. They won’t rattle our cage because we already gave up the cage.
Money no longer matters to us. We have what we need and we’ve built a life that doesn’t require us to depend on anyone but ourselves. We know we won’t let us down.
The ideas other people call crazy keep coming. They don’t understand. We buy trucks and RVs. We quit our jobs. We buy plane tickets to far…
I heard someone say that a common trait of empaths is that we have a tendency to watch the same movies and shows over and over. There’s a reason for this: we know how it ends. The last thing we want in this world is a juicy plot twist where something happens and we are ill-prepared for it emotionally. I know, we’re a special bunch. Game of Thrones destroyed us for years.
The Senate Impeachment hearing is my departure from this habit. I could not bring myself to watch. I flat out refused.
I refused for the same reason why…
I have a teenage daughter. She brings me absolute happiness 90% of the time I’m around her. The remaining 10% is as frustrating as it could possibly be. This usually has something to do with a cat box which may or may not have been cleaned as it supposed to be. But, that’s a completely different story for another day.
Driving around running errands this summer, we pulled up to a stoplight. The light had just turned red. She rolled down her window and motioned to the older man driving the car next to us to roll down his window…
The 2016 election delivered an electric shock that breathed life into the alt-right like the shock that brought Frankenstein’s monster to life. The power behind the shock was hatred. White-hot, racist, homophobic, sexist, “f*ck your feelings” hatred.
If there’s one thing we have come to understand about the alt-right it’s that its foundation is built on hate and the concept of collectively loathing the same things. There’s a unity that comes from hating all of the same people. A dysfunctional unity, but a unity nonetheless.
When a xenophobic man took the stage over several months and won a fight against…
We’re winning so much, we’re tired of winning. We’ve wanted to be the best at being the worst at something for so long. We tried for years to suck the most at education but Alabama just will not concede the title.
This week, we finally got there. Not more participation trophies. No more second place. We won.
John's Hopkins University released information this week that Arizona now has the highest rate of Covid in the world. Not the country. The whole damn world.
If you’re wondering how that happens, I’ll tell you. Here’s the Reader’s Digest Condensed Version: We gave…
My boyfriend and I had our 90-day reviews last night. Not at work. With each other. It’s an odd and possibly rigid concept but I believe in it wholeheartedly.
Three months is a solid time to check-in and have a heart to heart about how you’re doing as a couple. Mind you, I introduced him to this philosophy on our second date. He got a whole schpiel. He was warned in advance.
Most of us take our jobs more seriously than we do our relationships. We get a new job, hit the ground running, and look to nail that first…
My car wouldn’t have made it. It would have bottomed out. My friend Brandy and I had to practically idle her Subaru Impreza down the rocky dirt road leading to the gate of the ranch, flinching every time we heard a clang from underneath the car.
On our way in we passed a two-story house with deep porches on each level. What struck me was the two beds, neatly made, with wood-carved frames and headboards out on the upper porch. That’s where Doc sleeps. Every night, he told us.
Doc Clyne was kind enough to open his ranch he’s tended…
My daughter started her first job this week. She’s working at a local car wash, checking people in, getting them into the wash bay, and selling month-long memberships. She’s excited and I’m a proud mama.
Last night, she was telling me how much her paycheck was going to be and I reminded her of the importance of saving half of it. This is what I did when I had my first job slinging popcorn at the movie theatre where my two best friends had gotten jobs, as well.
I told her that I gave half my paycheck to my mom…
Back in January, when we were still free to move about the country, I took a trip to Key West for a music festival. Traveling by air is a dicey proposition for me. Like a lot of people, the changes in altitude, cabinet pressure, and the two drinks it takes for me to not be a crazy person on a plane have side effects. Namely, I blow up like a tick. Good times.
I had a three-hour drive from the airport in Miami to Key West and once I got off the plane, it became apparent that there was no…
A little anxiety crept in on Sunday evening, our last night together. It was evening four of my visit to the man I’ve been dating for the last two months. I had no intention of ever doing a long-distance relationship again but here I am.
The anxiety was driven by my past and the fact that the last long-distance relationship I was in ended horribly after over a year of on-again, off-again turmoil. I couldn't endure again what I feared would happen next.
In that past relationship, there was a clear pattern. I would go for a visit, spend a…
Flaming pinball, nerd, music lover, wine snob, horrible violin player. No, I won’t stop taking pictures of my drinks. vanessaltorre@gmail.com IG: vanessaltorre