Trips By Sam

“Tit for Tat”             The cork released with a satisfying pop, and with it, a blood trail along the wine key.   Surging nausea shook Justin’s guts at the sight of red rivulets running from her delicate hands, threatening to regurgitate three vodka tonics.               “In all my years of uncorking bottles in Marlborough and Mendoza, I’ve never spilled wine, let alone blood,” Riley insisted, examining her wrist’s pulsing gash with detached curiosity.   “Do you have paper towels?” she prodded him from frozen stupor.               Forcibly swallowing the bile summoned by scarlet speckles on his white marble coffee table, he stammered, “Uh-um, sure,” and retreated to retrieve a roll and steady his stomach in the kitchen.   Riley prattled about a similar incident with a sword in a Moroccan...

1. Everyone that comes into your life is a lesson or a blessing. Or both.   –Colleen Leimkuehler 2. Everything in moderation, including moderation.  – Diane Scrivens Seith 3. Wear sunscreen  -Mary Schmich's commencement speech 4. This too shall pass 5. No hurry, no worry.  Hurry make bad curry.  –Nepalese Sherpa 6. Measure days by degrees of presence, not productivity  -Alan Watts  7. Laughter, song, and dance.  -Brene Brown 8. Relax and enjoy life.  You’ll never live this day again  -Poster in Nepalese Cafe 9. Health is wealth. 10. Just do the next, best, right thing  – Kara Lapso 11. There are many paths up the mountain, all leading to the same place, so it doesn’t matter which you take.  The only person wasting time is the one who runs around the mountain, telling everyone that his or her path is wrong.   –Hindu proverb 12. Infinite love is the only truth.  Any...

            I sit in the light of this moon, full with beautiful blessings.   I'm surrounded by love, family, and friends with a plethora of wonderful yet fleeting opportunities for joy.   What an incredible experience it is to explore this existence; to live. Morning Pages – Monday, March 9, 2020             In its simplicity, the weekend that spurred these words was one of life’s bests.   The cosmos aligned to unite beloved souls under the light of a nearly-full moon and almost-spring sun.               Friday afternoon.   Yin yoga on Youtube ended in a savasana interrupted by squeaks of nieces, arriving from Columbus.   After cuddly hugs and a sisterly aperitif—the chilled verdejo I’d touted from Spain, months ago—we weaseled our way into the bustling Lenten fish fry at our ol...

          I don’t do resolutions.  I prefer mottos.  “Just keep swimming.”    -2018 “Just do the next  write  thing.” -2016 “If you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly.” –a particularly raunchy 2014 “Strike while the iron’s hot!”    I’d toasted to 2020, focusing on taking action in the moment.    Like most resolutions, the (unseasonably) warm winter weather melted away my resolve as days lengthened towards March.    Striking a (not hot) singing bowl in Nepal Tinder sparked. Flames, fanned through messaging banter, fizzled as I canceled dates to spend yet another Friday with a film and (actual) fire in the company of my pup. Sheltering at home with a British thriller audiobook and 1000 piecer (or rather 998 piece thrift store find), was already a pleasurable pasttime.    For me, climbing into a cold car and navigating a jam-packed parking lot to buy yarn at the craft store wa...