Friends

Linnea Ashley on December 21st, 2009

There is something acutely incongruous about hearing feliz navidad on loop while swerving and dipping down a pot holed road- lush greenery rising up on both sides. This Christmas is definitely green. it doesn’t feel like Christmas, music to the contrary. Although as I write it I’m unsure of what it feels like in adulthood. […]

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Linnea Ashley on December 18th, 2009

My father always said marriage was the toughest job you’ll ever love. Yeah he borrowed that line from peace corps but that doesn’t make it any less true. The idea that two people – fully formed – come together to make a single life is intense. the marriage itself is fired in work but the […]

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Linnea Ashley on December 16th, 2009

She greeted me, her hand reaching back to touch my arm as she walked by. The younger one, lagging just a little behind her, hands occupied with bucket and basin for water, greeted me with a mumble I couldn’t quite understand. “what?” I stopped and looked back at her. “my mom died,” she smiled at […]

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Linnea Ashley on December 11th, 2009

“Are you afraid to walk?” Her expression betrayed a little amusement. Not quite mocking, it was friendlier than that. “We walked before,” I countered, “but we were told that we shouldn’t.” She spoke quickly to a man sitting on a ledge at the Cape Hotel, where we’d spent the evening eating and using the internet, […]

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Linnea Ashley on December 8th, 2009

“… I think that college friends are more like family than friends; They were there when you were becoming yourself. It is like you were in a store, shopping for yourself. And they stood there, helping you try on things that fit, were too tight, too loose; They watched as you found the perfect fit […]

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Linnea Ashley on November 23rd, 2009

We took to Dimples immediately. Something about the broad smile that staked claim to his entire face and the deep dimples standing guard beside it. Yeah, the big smile and the generous laugh that followed almost anything we said or he did, laid a foundation for our budding friendship. Dimples is Liberian born and bred […]

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Linnea Ashley on November 17th, 2009

It’s the touching. A slight graze of a hand on my shoulder, down my arm. Or sometimes I catch myself watching as his hand slides down her side to her hip and rests there softly, or while dancing, his hands lightly guide her behind to move with him. It feels pornographic. Not because it is […]

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Linnea Ashley on November 16th, 2009

I sound like tubercular Theresa or something. I’m not sure where the hack came from but it appears to have put down roots. Wednesday I was under the weather and stayed home from work- sore throat and sleepiness my constant companions. But after BushDiva squeezed me some orange juice and I got some rest I […]

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Linnea Ashley on September 21st, 2009

I was struck by her furtive glances. Flashlight shining into the darkness, every towering flower and blooming bush suddenly a threat to safety and a sense of home. More than her favorite purse or credit cards, the thief that held up my friend this weekend stole her peace of mind. Watching her from my car […]

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Linnea Ashley on July 17th, 2009

the notion of home has always been less place and more people. a military brat traipsing with my family hither and yon, the word home has always conjured up the faces of my parents and sister assembled hodge podge on my parents’ bed. it never mattered where the bed was, only that we were all […]

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