t e r r i f i c

There are times when I feel like I've woken up from a dream.
Sometimes pleasant, sometimes a nightmare - but all the while not real...
a dream. So this is living.
After all, after everything... this is life.

Now I know I can deal with that. Now I know I don't know much of
anything at all, and it's "terrific" in the sense that it's both
terrifying and wonderful. Such a funny word for such a powerful meaning.

noise

It's so strange... how quiet it gets here in summer. Just when the weather turns warm and I expect the streets to be full of rowdy students, all of them leave. When I think all I want is quiet suddenly I have it and find myself feeling lonely, a little left behind in the crowd, like that time I was eight and woke up to an empty house and panicked wondering where my parents had gone. Another year in this college town, another graduation, another season of late sunsets and box fans sitting in windows drowning out what little noise is being made by the families, workers and summer students who didn't go home.