Travel Ceramic Fish We found it in an art gallery in a small town in southwestern Ireland—a framed ceramic piece featuring small blue fish swimming in a circle. I told Skylar I
EMBARRASSING Tesco We returned from two weeks in Ireland and Northern Ireland last night. It was lovely. We ate potatoes for every meal. Skylar now thinks we are going to name our
Skylar Friends in Ireland We were standing on the side of a street, waiting to cross it, when Skylar was robbed. The culprit was a man in grey sweatpants speeding through a busy thousand-year-old
Essays He's Probably Still Afraid of Seat Belts This piece was reader submitted by Jen Prinster; art by Christopher Patty. Long before high-back booster seats with side impact protection, children were bouncing around in cars like pinball machines.
Skylar King Bed A wet nose pressed into my neck. A moment later I felt the shove of four dog legs against my exhausted body. I inched closer to the edge of the
Guns In 2012 I was living in Palau, in the equatorial pacific, for work. Palau is 17 hours ahead of Utah time, where I was from. I woke up that morning
Skylar Graduation It began at 9:00 and ended three months from now. At least, that's how long graduation felt. I made the mistake—a regrettable misjudgment—to arrive promptly at 9:
Louie Vegas With Puppies Over the years I've had friends tell me that once you start having kids, everything takes ten times longer. No outing is uncomplicated. No activity can ever truly be spontaneous.
Skylar Handyman "I can't find the charger for the drill," the ominous text said without any further explanation. I started typing back. The first word of my text was "why," which I
Skylar What Color Are My Eyes? "What color are my eyes?" Skylar had shut them before he asked me, a measure aimed at preventing me from "cheating." "Dazzling?" My answer was rejected because "that's not a
Grandma La Donna My great aunt La Donna called me last week to let me know she was coming into town from Palm Desert to attend my grandma's 90th birthday party. "They've asked
Louie Brownies Look. I didn't intend to fill your lives with puppy poop stories this year. I had hoped to have a more diverse catalogue of anecdotes for you in 2022. This
Skylar The Sock Drawer "Are you doing this just to annoy me?" I answered by telling Skylar he needed to be more specific. That's when he held up a sock. A perfectly fine sock.
Skylar Emergency Wedding Skylar's mother has had some health scares recently, which has stressed both of us out greatly. I won the mother-in-law lottery and it makes me sick to think of anything
Louie The Gate I was pulling weeds from the flower bed in the front yard when I realized I suddenly had company. "Oh, hello there," I said to Louie who was standing on
Louie The Side Door There's a door to our house that you access through the driveway. We call it "the side door." We don't have any door that goes directly to the backyard, an
Skylar How Match Day Went Skylar's parents flew in on Thursday. He told us Match Day (when he'd find out where his residency will be) is a much bigger deal than graduation so he asked
Skylar Match Day Somehow Skylar's four years of medical school are coming to an end next month. "Wow. That really wasn't so bad!" I told him recently, realizing how quickly the time flew
Ukraine Ukraine Fundraiser Report If you follow me on any social media, you might be aware that I've been The Most Sad And Tired Man In The United States Of God Bless America for
Ukraine Ukraine, A Brief History In light of recent events, and feeling somewhat helpless and sad, I thought I'd try to give a concise overview of the recent history to help anyone interested understand what
Louie Muddy Puppy My phone was propped up on the ledge of the bathtub—a man was asking another man some question about his educational background. I kneeled, hunched, bent, over the side
Skylar Civic Duties "I'm the new Erin Brockovich." Skylar whispered that to me just now. He's sitting across from me at a tea shop near our house where we like to go on
Skylar Are you disappointed? "Oh darn." Skylar was scrolling through his phone when he said it. "No reservations?" I asked him. "None. Well, none before 7:30, anyway." I was disappointed. We had been
Skylar Hungary This week's Strangerville story is one I wrote about a very stupid fight Skylar and I had on our first big trip together. Text included below. I had been dating
Essays Pioneers In Petticoats: A 1969 BYU Film About Trashy Women I've been putting this one off for years because it felt too overwhelming. But at long last, please enjoy my recap of the 1969 BYU cinematic masterpiece, Pioneers In Petticoats,