#creativenonfiction
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You’re Invited
As we turned into the parking lot near One Observatory Circle, the butterflies in my stomach began fluttering faster and harder. I saw the shuttle that would drive us to the Vice President’s Residence, but before we could board, we had to be cleared by a Secret Service Agent. Once we were seated on the…
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Fruit Forward
The Craigslist ad beckoned to me – pouring and selling wine as an independent contractor around Southern Maryland? I’ve never been much of a salesperson, but how hard can that be? Wine practically sells itself. All I had to do was invite people to taste. I responded to the ad and received a request days…
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The Accidental Gardener
We closed on our house two years ago today, and with the house came a decent-sized vegetable garden. It was all a bit intimidating. I had only been a homeowner once before and never got around to doing much in the way of gardening. Throughout Lance’s military career, we lived in a lot of rental…
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Sheep Shit Shirt: An Oktoberfest Story
As I glanced at the empty seat next to me on the luxury coach and then gazed out the window, I knew without a doubt that the man exiting the hotel was going to be my seatmate. The first thing I noticed was his t-shirt, which advertised sheep manure. A minute later, he slid into…
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Sentimental Journey
The night before Grandma died, she woke up, briefly, and teased my brother for coughing. “Ah-choo,” she said, smiling. Then she slipped back into unconsciousness. That was the last we heard her voice. It was just a couple weeks between her diagnosis of terminal cancer and her death. We thought it was Alzheimer’s, but it…
Karyn Johnson 