Zinnia Abbott's Blog

You have lost someone that you love. Maybe you are angry because they hurt you. Or you feel guilty because you hurt them. Or you wish you had been kinder to them, or paid more attention to them. Or you used to wish they...

As Garth said to Wayne, "Live in the now, man!"

A toothless, homeless woman offered me flowers. A red rose and a pink alstroemeria. I could tell she was toothless, and I figured she was homeless because she was hanging out in that section of the park where homeless pe...

Anacapa's East Island is only one of the islands in Channel Islands National Park. It's a boat trip of about one hour. I start to get a little seasick. I remember someone once told me that focusing on the horizon would k...

I was taking high school senior English in the summer of 1969. I had an ambitious plan to skip my senior year of high school and go on to college. Senior English was all that stood in my way.

We all thought my dad was going to die when he was in the hospital a few years ago. So, that's when I wrote him this letter:

"I have seen way too many memes that advise me to avoid negative people." Frowning, Zane places his phone face down on the picnic table. "What is the definition of a 'negative person?'" Here he uses air quotes. "Is it s...

"I heard a man in an AA meeting advising a newcomer, 'Be good to yourself. Eat that ice cream sundae.'" I am talking with my good friend, Zane on the phone.

I knew it was bad. I had seen the documentaries. Meat eating is bad for your health, bad for the environment, and especially bad for all those poor, factory-farmed animals who are typically treated inhumanely.

"A gentleman in the meeting today was celebrating five months of sobriety in AA. He had never been to an in-person meeting. Only on Zoom," I say to my sponsor, Faith, as we sit out in her back yard, enjoying the spring b...