| Ava |
a friend
Selfless to a fault. An outdoors gal now working an office job for a nonprofit she loves. Sweet and joyful, and at the same time oddly pensive and sad. My roommate, either actual or virtual, for all four years in college. |
|
| Azudemai |
a friend
Open and friendly and yet stubbornly mysterious. Ridiculously talented at a ridiculous number of things. For all his worldliness, he seems strangely lonely to me. |
|
| Drew |
a friend
Tried to get with me and failed (not from lack of charm, however). Moved on to Ava and fared better for a time. We're great friends now, Drew and I. Crass and caring, arrogant and humble by turns, always passionate, he never fails to surprise me. |
|
| Elizabeth |
the younger sister
Ten years my junior, but sometimes I wonder who's really the older one. She's got a ready laugh, a strong hug and an even stronger will. And she's mean with a sewing machine. |
|
| Emmett |
the younger brother
Whip-smart, steadfastly loyal, and an all-around jolly good fellow. We were best friends growing up and still keep a bit of that magic bond, though I only see him about twice a year these days. |
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| Enjelani |
yours truly
Sometimes stops on a busy street corner or by a grove of trees or at the dinner table and just grins for a while. Despite general consensus from the outside world that she's pretty cool and smart and all, she harbors the conviction that she's nobody of any consequence -- at least, not yet. |
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| Gabriel |
a friend
Soren knew him first. Charming and unpredictable: can go from silly to serious and back again before you realize what happened. Makes rather potent chocolate cookies. |
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| Gaudior |
a friend
Introduced me to online chatting, funk music, french kissing and porn (pr0n). Not an ex, you will note. I've caused him chagrin by pointing out two things about him: 1) he can always be counted on to recommend stuff, and 2) conversations with him invariably end up on the topic of sex. He is also a fabulous cook. |
|
| Jacob |
a friend
Another friend in the Soren's-and-my-mutual-friends circle. Reminds me of Zach sometimes, in his quiet humility and surprising outbursts of wit. Slips into German every now and again for no apparent reason. |
|
| Joey |
a friend
My best friend from fourth grade on, though I think we've slipped from best-friend status in the last six years or so, as our time together has been reduced to two-hour walks in the park between plane flights. Lovely and ferocious, she's sort of a hyperactive version of Azudemai, and maybe a little too smart for her own good. |
|
| Leonard |
a co-worker
The only person at my "main" job that I'm really friends with. A strange cross of bleeding-heart liberal and die-hard middle America (loves old-growth forests and trailer-trash TV with equal fervor). Thinks he knows everything, but not really. Lunch conversations stagnate in his absence. |
|
| Lewis |
a co-worker
A newly acquired...well, not friend, quite. Acquaintance-on-shared-wavelength. Eats like a bird, makes fascinating sculptures in his apartment out of sliding-door screens and copper tubing, and is generous with his old sex-toy catalogues. Turns out we have a frightening number of friends in common. |
|
| Lynn |
a friend
My father, in his infinite tactfulness, once said of Lynn: "She talks so much and so fast, I don't see how she manages not to repeat herself." He meant it in a good way, actually. Her rapid-fire speech belies an unusually introspective nature -- the source of many a lovely late-night conversation over the years. |
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| Mom and Dad | As themselves | |
| Soren |
the boyfriend
He's the quiet one in the corner. Not because he's an outcast, but because he likes it there. Likes watching everyone play out the human drama, hiding and revealing and making fools and gods of themselves. Come up to him, say something crazy and he'll go right along with you. Careful of his gaze. If he decides to look at you, really look at you, you may find it hard to turn away. |
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| Zachary |
the ex-boyfriend
Shy, intelligent, kind, funny, fragile and brave. Yearns for high altitudes, open spaces and summer thunderstorms. "Your yang to my yin," he said to me more than once when we were together. But don't get me wrong: he's a badass at Quake and he can code in C++ like a madman. Not that he'd ever boast about it, or anything else. |