Author Archives: Jaclynn Loibl

There’s a breakfast spot in Enumclaw, Washington called the Krain that I’ve got a serious hankering for. My go-to order: the Krain Favorite omelet with biscuits and gravy, plus gravy over the top of hashbrowns, washed down with a root beer. Back in the day, my family, extended family, and friends’ families would all meetContinue reading “Where Art Thou, Gravy?”

In addition to the cream and sand-colored striped rug and the mosaic glass dragonfly side table with a plant on top, the front patio’s facelift now includes a cedar-colored rocking chair, complete with a two-inch cream pillow pad. The speaker barely squeezes onto the side table, but its melodic, dreamy tunes will be the newContinue reading “Bring Me a Dream”

A nagging headache has been simmering all day, refusing to quit. I tried to sleep it off, but it just hopped to the other side of my skull like, “Still here!” Determined to ignore it, I grabbed a small bundle of double-zero Italian flour and mixed it with three eggs and olive oil directly onContinue reading “It’s Amore”

With a blower strapped to my back and the wide-mouthed hose in hand, I felt like a Ghostbuster. Then, when Dave gave the pull cord a second yank and it fired up, the blast of power let me know I was in business. And boy, was I ever. The force from the blower’s tube hadContinue reading “Who Ya Gonna Call?”

I don’t want to work with insurance companies. Due to a clause in Blue Cross Blue Shield’s policies (and maybe Anthem too), I might not be able to work virtually with some of my Washington clients. If this happens, I might offer them their co-pay rate to keep working together. Big blood, bad blood—is itContinue reading “Vroom Vroom”

I want to do a scream of consciousness. Not the lovely stream, but the kind where the day’s filled with endless “I’m hungry”—right as the cart fills with groceries or at 8 pm when bedtime is overdue. A holler seems pretty reasonable right about now. Then there’s health insurance, home and car insurance, and aContinue reading “Scream of Conscious”

I spend just as much time barefoot as I do in shoes. Today, I walked next door to my sister-in-law’s house on the sun-kissed asphalt. Entering her yard, I knelt on the ground—one knee, then the other— sitting on my bottom, then lowered my head back until it rested on the calloused earth beneath me.Continue reading “Falling Slowly”

Joey and I read a chapter from Ursula LeGuin’s “Steering the Craft” each week. Like me, Joey’s into writer’s books on writing, and this week’s chapter on adverbs and adjectives had us independently underlining the phrase “take responsibility” from Chapter 5. I’m taking the advice a step further and writing it on a stickie, andContinue reading “Leave it to the Bees”

Three times during a counseling session with Veronica, let’s call her Veronica, I asked, “Hurtful or helpful?” Each time, she whispered “Hurtful” about the thoughts she was having, and each admission felt like a guilty plea, a confession to a jury. I’m not the executioner—she is. Her abandonment, betrayal, and self-deception she’s having internally areContinue reading “Hurtful or Helpful”