Lands End

Mile Rock Beach at Lands End, San Francisco

Today the wind is brisk and cool, though the forecast promises a climb to 73 — a small mercy after a cold April and an even colder start to May. Some days are made for flashbacks, and not the kind that come from re‑editing a chapter for the hundredth time. A song can do it. One note and suddenly you’re back inside a moment long gone but still lodged somewhere in you, sharp enough to make you shiver. You’re in a different town now, under different hills — these covered with more trees than your memory ever held — yet the feeling is the same. A little Gone With the Wind, corny as that sounds, but true in its sweep.

A photograph can do it too. One glance and you remember being not‑so‑innocent but still green, invincible, a heartbreaker because it delighted you then — breaking hearts without regret, without remorse. Age teaches you the remorse. Age teaches you what you can’t undo. You see the way you were, the way you loved no one fully except yourself, and even that love was conditional. That younger self — worshipped, reckless, unbothered — is probably the true ancestor of the Painted People, now that I think about it. Fiction remembers what we try to forget.

Cinco de Mayo 2026 festivities in Peekskill.

​Cinco de Mayo in tiny Peekskill was its own kind of joy. The music, the warmth, the small‑town swirl of it all — and yes, being kissed by three different men in a single day. A flash of who you were, or who you believed yourself to be. You smile at the memory, but you don’t want to relive it. Or so you tell yourself.
​
Maybe that’s the real confession of the day: the past doesn’t vanish, it just waits for the right weather. A brisk wind, a familiar chord, a photograph you weren’t prepared to see — and suddenly the younger you steps out of the trees like a ghost who still knows your name. You don’t want him back, not really, but you nod to him. You let him walk beside you for a moment. Then you keep going, older now, softer, and finally honest about the myth you’ve been writing all along.

Boneyizm: A state marked by feelings of happiness, excitement, and euphoria, while low valence reflects emotions like sadness, anger, or melancholy.