Posts in Tough convo
Stay in Your Lane

During my last workout of the year, the swimmer in the lane next to me frogged his legs out and almost kicked me a few times. It’s par for the course, but once or twice his hands skimmed my torso.

It startled me, if I’m honest—I felt a bit violated. “STAY IN YOUR LANE!” I yelled under the water.

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Falling Together by Author Debbie Zapata

I am sitting on the dock next to the lake. It is a place of solace during my darkest moments. My best friend since childhood sits quietly nearby. I can’t do this alone. It’s only been three months since my dad’s death. It’s his birthday—the first one without him here.

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What KIND of date?

A moment on the radio: A guy “pulls out all the stops” for his date and can’t figure out what went wrong. He explains: “I wanted to make a great first impression and really treat her ‘right’ like a true gentleman. I gave her flowers, took her to the best restaurant...

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Take In

Cruise goal #1: Connect with crew. For the first time ever, I cruised as a passenger. I worked for Carnival out of college and never sailed as a guest. While on board, I made a special friend and he shared his daily schedule:

 

“Around 3 O’clock, I take in a coffee.” His words stuck with me. In Spanish, people say “Tomar el café”, or “take in” coffee. Also, contextual to a cruise, “to sunbathe” uses the same verb with “tomar sol.” Apparently, French and Hindi have similar translations: a more purposeful “taking in” of sorts. 

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