Library

How did you know Dad was the one?

Well… he fixed my flat tire in the rain and didn't even tell me his name. Took me three weeks to find him again. Your grandfather always said I chased him —…

What did Sundays look like when you were little?

There were eleven of us around that table and one chicken. My mother could stretch anything. Nobody got up until the dishes were done — that was the rule, and…

What's a decision that changed your life?

The phone rang while I was hanging laundry and I almost let it ring out. Twenty-two years at that library because I put the basket down. Funny how a whole life…

What food reminds you of home?

She never wrote it down. A handful of this, warm water until it feels right. I can still smell it on a cold morning.

What did you do for fun at eighteen?

We'd walk to the armory in borrowed shoes. The band was far too loud and we didn't care one bit. I danced until my feet bled and told my mother it was the…

What's something you've kept all these years?

It's folded so many times the creases have gone soft. He wasn't a man of many words, so the ones he wrote down, I kept. I read it every year on his birthday.