here today and gone tomorrow......


again beneath the evergreens. seattle in winter feels (ironically) warm. fairy lights glow from behind a full length window. i step beneath a huge spreading evergreen and smell moss. claire's house is warm and filled with pillows, joyful statues and candles, and art and family pictures fill the walls. just enough time in seattle to remember how great seattle, buried under memory, is, a little bit of time to spend with aunts claire, elaine and diane, and cousins jesse and rowen, to navigate to Fremont, also known as The Centre of the Universe and grab the troll under the bridge by his big bulbous nose, clasp our arms around the statues standing at the bus stop and glimpe an angry stone Lenin wreathed in red tinsel with a star sticking out of his head, to gaze at the space needle, a far off familiar beacon in a line of ordinary towers, to cross the dark waters of the puget sound and glimpse the dark hills of magnolia embedded with golden lights. enough time for jesse to show off his new cooking talents at his restaurant, pack and trade pictures and curl up next to serenity on a fold out couch, a coil of grey fur, serene.

enough time in seattle to (definitely) come back.