There was a time when I felt an almost reflexive need to explain myself. If I hesitated before answering, I would fill the silence with reasons. If I changed my mind, I would provide a detailed account of how I got there. If I pulled back, set a boundary, or chose a different path than…

When people talk about family trees, they tend to focus on the same characters—the larger-than-life ones, the rule-benders, the storytellers. The ones we’re proud to claim. But every family tree has another kind of branch—the ones we don’t talk about nearly enough. The steady ones. The overlooked ones. The ones who didn’t chase anything except…

Photo by Odette Gagnon Don’t leave anything for later. Later, the coffee gets cold. Later, you lose interest. Later, the day turns into night. Later, people grow up. Later, people grow old. Later, life goes by. Later, you regret not doing something… When you had the chance Living in a rural area by the sea…

As a young boy, I always wanted a dog. I didn’t get one. That longing, simple yet persistent, shaped how I understood companionship. It taught me early that sometimes love arrives before we have the words to name it, and sometimes it lives in places we don’t own. For me, that place was my uncle’s…