Trips By Sam

“You don’t remind me of anyone,” I lied.   He did remind me of someone.   Two someones, to be precise.   What was it about them that I found so irresistible?   I’m a Leo rising, Aries sun, and Sagittarius moon (for all you astrology buffs out there).   Fire, fire, fire.   And in fact, I lied to him over a fire, crouching low to duck smoke and stoke embers.   We were perched on a mountain top, a nest of woven bamboo strips filtering the night breeze.   The soggy logs, lack of kindling, and wayward wind rendered tending the flame a constant chore.   When it vanished (frequently), it left in its absence a steady stream of smoke.   But when the blaze danced, it was bewitching; impossible not to admire with an awestruck gaze.   In companionable silence we sat, dispersing the dwindling twigs, prodding the stalwart log, stoking embers in rumination. A fire requires balance; not too much earth or moisture, just enough air. ...

            I brought my college boyfriend home to meet my parents the weekend before my sister’s wedding, returned to school for the week, and then dragged him back to Cleveland for the main event.   He was a nice Jewish boy from Connecticut, a Brooks Brothers button-down balanced affair: Mom, Dad, Sister, Brother (and irresistibly adorable pug) who ate pizza with forks and knives.   I couldn’t bring his well-bred, soft spoken soul to meet my family for the first time just two days before the wedding, shocking him with such pandemonium.   So we dined at the local Mexican restaurant, my mother asking too many questions in hopes of making him feel welcomed, my dad chanting the 4 words he knows in gringo Spanish, his means of achieving the same end.   When we returned for the wedding, however, all facades were off.   It was a flurry of jittery activity.   Homemade cookies needed frosting and cellophan...