I had very mixed feelings going to Los Angeles International Airport a few nights ago. On that last night, I had a warm, cozy dinner with my friend Heather, her new baby, her husband, and my friend Joy. Heather is one of my oldest friends, one of those friends who has seen me at my best and at

It's Jocelyn's birthday and she's turning 15. Her family has invited Liz and me for a small family dinner at Olive Garden to celebrate. At the table, I order the ravioli di portobello because I love mushrooms. My dish has seven raviolis coated in a whitish-pink sauce with tomatoes and chives. I

Anxiety is weird. Unlike other maladies, like the flu or a torn meniscus in the knee, there’s no cure. There’s no beating it. I would’ve signed up for multiple surgeries if a doctor could put me under anesthesia, trim out the torn part of my brain that is responsible for sounding the alarm

I walk to 7-Eleven almost every day. Sometimes it's for food or coffee, sometimes it's to get money from the ATM (my U.S. bank card only works at 7-Eleven ATMs and the post office ATM), sometimes it's to pay bills. Right now, it's kind of the center of my outside-my-home life. I know what

For the first time since I was 10, a bicycle is my primary means of transportation. Mr. Louise and I got used bikes to get around Yamaguchi because it takes too long to walk to the grocery store, and the train only runs sometimes. While at first the romance of breezily biking ...Continue