The Random Person Who Took Us Home

"While Laura was still several steps behind me, a man with short graying hair pushed through the crowd and walked right up to me. He looked me in the eye, held up his phone, and asked, 'Is this your wife?' I looked at the picture on his screen. Sure enough. It was Laura with one of the dogs. That's when I put on my angry face."

Back Home and Back in the Majority

It was our final leg, and we were finally sitting on the plane. Chicago to Minneapolis. OK. We can do this. The last time we had gotten decent sleep—"decent" being defined as eight hours in a horizontal position with our heads on a pillow—was Monday night. In the time zone of our departure, it was Thursday morning.

Places Where Flowers Bloomed: Temperatures Rising

November 2014 So there I stood in the entryway of our apartment manager’s home along with the apartment manager, her husband, our neighbor, and a roof repairman, and from the sound of it, things weren’t looking promising. You see, it all started a few months prior, when Laura and I noticed a small leak in … Continue reading Places Where Flowers Bloomed: Temperatures Rising

Speaking With an Accent

In Kyrgyz, there's only one letter difference between the word cow and the word house. And if you're not a native speaker, the difference in pronunciation between those two letters is about as clear as a jar of mud. Right after we moved out of our apartment, Laura told her friend that we had bought … Continue reading Speaking With an Accent