Friends

  • Bye, Buddy

    It began with… “Are you going to make a speech?” x3 Followed by… “You’re going to get up there, right?” I thought about it. I thought about the shape of my speech—how it would sound rolling out of my mouth, in THIS drawl—the ways in which the audience might react. I imagined myself standing with…

  • My Roots

    My Roots

    Real Talk at a Sonic Anna and I were discussing the Big Blue Mess – its roots and how it’s changed (grown? devolved?) over the decades. It was one of those Sonic fueled heart-to-hearts – the kind you have with a friend. At least I feel the chat was at a Sonic, because that feels…

  • Thank You!

    Thank You!

    Last weekend the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) for Central Texas held their annual Austin Out of the Darkness Walk. This was the 6th walk that the Jay Walkers participated in, and it was one of the better walks I’ve attended in a while. (Hey, it’s hard to beat your first. Unless we’re talking…

  • The Potato

    “Can I just share a random story?” One of my oldest friends, her sister, and I were sitting around a restaurant somewhere in San Diego. They’d just made good choices when ordering, and I’d ummm added basil to mine and declared it “practically a salad.” Well, not aloud, of course, but my brain knows leafy…

  • Storytelling, Burdens & Grief

    Storytelling, Burdens & Grief

    So, you may have noticed (or not, it’s ok) that I went out, changed the look of my blog, announced it, and then let it sit. Is anyone really surprised by this? Yeah, me either. It’s kind of on point for my spotty writing over the last eight years. But today I decided to take…

  • Rick,

    Well shit, dude. Sorry for the language, generations of ancestors just recoiled starting with my Mom, but just shit. When I foot-in-mouth texted (a new thing now) and called you out for “ghosting me,” I imagined several quick-witted, sassy retorts except the one I received. “This is Heather using Rick’s phone. I’m so sorry to…

  • Wanted: Middle-Aged Dragon Riders

    Write. Right. Right. A few weeks ago (or really about five months ago), I read this great piece from a blog/blogger I enjoy where the gist of it was encouraging people to write more. I took it to heart, gave it some thought, imagined myself doing it, and then… well… there were a ton of…

  • I Don’t Know, It Depends: Wisdom from an Unwise Person For Lori

    I have a Facebook page for The Big Blue Mess, which I don’t really go around advertising since it just mirrors my normal Facebook page and is mostly there to say, “Look, friends who read this thing. I made words with my hands again!” And if I’ve done my job and the FB algorithm gods…

  • What I Did on My Summer Vacation

    Fact: Nothing drives my team lead crazier than when we’re encouraged to share “what we did on our Summer vacation” in one of our bi-weekly meetings. I know, I know, I just broke one of my writing rules – “Rule #1: Avoid discussing work”. But I promise you if she came across this blog she’d…

  • Something Else Real

    I’ll probably fire this one off a bit too quickly, then look back with regret that I hadn’t taken the time to massage the words as well as I could. Ehhh… that’s almost every post you read here. Somedays I get to own the fact that my words aren’t always my strength… and that’s ok.…