The featured image is me with my creative partner, and we are developing all kinds of things. If you want to meet us, we’ll be at Fredericksburg Pride representing Beth Sholom Temple. I will have Mico remind me to put a pen in my backpack, but two things:
- I am a blogger. I could sign your phone, I guess?
- My handwriting is a carpal tunnel pile of garbage and I am sentimental….. so know that whatever I said, I meant it.
I honestly don’t have any fans in Northern Virginia except my three-ring circus of a family. But hey, other authors on Medium and Substack say where they’re going to be if it’s public, and this is no different. I’m like the nonfiction TJ Klune. Probably a lot shorter. We’ve never met, but he’s from there and I have a connection to it. I cannot in good conscience say that I am a local author. I lived in Alexandria for a grand total of 18 months, which as you know is 300 hours from Fredericksburg.
Kidding. The longest it’s ever taken is two and a half to three hours. That’s the entire way home on a normal day. On a normal day for Tiina, that would take about 45 minutes to an hour. It’s possible that Tiina will be spending a lot more time in DC, which will make it fun for me on the nights she doesn’t have to immediately go home. It won’t be as far to meet up.
But honestly, that would just be a change of pace. I don’t notice traffic. I don’t care. I have adaptive cruise control and I have learned that I am just fine with taking an extra eight minutes to get somewhere by being a slow driver. Well, not slow. Just relative to the car in front of me and not doing my own thing. It physically feels like riding a sleigh, because you’re steering, but you don’t have to rely on yourself to speed up or slow down.
Tiina and I are not exactly “walking people.” She has a rollator most days because of long COVID, and I have cerebral palsy and get exhausted easily trying to keep myself upright. Movement is a constant negotiation, so we’re constantly thinking of new adventures that don’t wear us out. We’re jazzed about the Kalahari thing being built out in Spottsy, and joke that we’re going to race between bars…. I don’t know how we got on this kick, but one day we started talking about swim up bars and that led to a Microsoft Copilot rabbit hole in which I learned everything there is to know about swim-up bars from Fredericksburg to Baltimore.
It is a very, very, very short list…… and the Kalahari isn’t done yet.
But when I do go on a hike, this is very much the look I get. The joy radiates. I just don’t hike as much anymore because I’m older and cannot compensate as easily.
Today, you just get a feeling of love, warmth, and being outside…………… and did I mention that Tiina is a cybersecurity expert?
Stories That Are All True 