Back After This

by Linda Holmes

Justin had a tattoo that ran down the inside of his forearm. A jagged soundwave copied from a recording of his own voice saying, Hi, this is Justin Dash. I should have broken up with him the day he got it, because there is a very particular kind of guy who would do that, and although I told myself at the time he didn’t seem like that type, it turned out he was exactly that type.

As Julie always said, Apple Podcasts is figuratively littered with the bodies of people whose last words were “How hard can it be?”

I liked him a lot, but not to date. In ten years, though, after a couple of character-building setbacks, he was probably going to be a great guy.

work-life balance was something I thought would be lovely to get into someday, when I was less busy.

“People do exciting things after they turn forty all the time. Julia Child was fifty when she published her first book.” “You know why everybody knows that?” I said. “Because it isn’t what usually happens.”