"She’d come for the adventure, for the thrill. For the freedom."

“Yes, exactly. I bided my time. When I was eighteen, I left. 

There was insurance money that came to me then, and a small trust 

fund from the sale of our house in Saint Louis. I planned to go to college.

 I had no idea what I wanted to do or be, so I decided to take a year off first and 

do something my parents had always talked of doing. To tour Europe.”

“Alone?”

“Yes, alone.” She sipped her wine now, leaning back on the counter. 

Had she ever told anyone even this much before? 

Since the night everything changed for her? No, no one. What would have been the point?

“I was thrilled to be alone, to have no schedule, no one telling me what to do. 

It was both an adventure and a pilgrimage for me. 

I backpacked through Italy.”

Wolf Moon

________________________

By StockSnap - 

https://pixabay.com/en/people-woman-travel-adventure-trek-2591874/ 

archive copy at the

 Wayback Machine (archived on 19 January 2019), CC0,

 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72553316

This Unexpected Travel Trend Is Especially Popular Among Women Right Now

Solo trips are one of 2019’s biggest travel trends, 

and women are definitely leading the charge.

Real Simple

Winter Driving: How to Survive

Damn snow. Gabe downshifted to second gear, slowed the Jeep

 to fifteen miles an hour, swore and strained his eyes. 

Through the frantic swing of the wipers on the windshield 

all that could be seen was a wall of white. 

No winter wonderland. 

Gabriel's Angel

__________________

By HopsonRoad - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54631963

Winter adds an extra level of danger when a car breaks down.

Family Handyman

__________________

He was hungry, soaked to the skin, and afraid he would run out of

gas-petrol-before he found anything remotely like an inn or village.

In his mind he went over the map. Visualizing was a talent he'd

been born with, and he could, with little effort, reproduce every line

of the careful map his hostess had sent him.

The trouble was, it was pitch dark, the rain washed over his

windshield like a roaring river, and the wind was buffeting his car

on this godforsaken excuse for a road as if the Mercedes was a

Tinkertoy.

He wished violently for coffee.

When the road forked, Gray took his chances and guided the car

to the left. If he didn't find the inn or something like in it another ten

miles, he'd sleep in the damn car and try again in the morning.

Born in Ice

Why does snow make the world so quiet?

"I guess the quiet woke me. It's odd, don't you think, how quiet it is?"

"The snow always makes it quiet."

The Return of Rafe MacKade

_____________________

By Stulli - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3834213

Hush. It's snowing outside.

At least, doesn't it feel like that when snowflakes make their grand entrance, pirouetting from the sky like tiny, twirling ballerinas?

And we're pressed up against windows, eyes wide open. Or outside, all giddy smiles with tongues eagerly outstretched.

Snowflakes look good. They even taste good. But they sound like … nothing.

mother nature network

_____________________

On impulse, she bundled herself in her boots and coat and stepped out onto the porch.

Though Gabe had shoveled it off twice during the day, the snow came almost to her knees. Her boots sank in 
and disappeared. She had the sensation of being swallowed up by a soft, benign cloud. 
She wrapped her arms around her chest and breathed in the thin, cold air.

There were no stars. There was no moon. The porch light tossed its glow only a few feet. 
All she could see was white. 
All she could hear was silence.

Gabriel's Angel 

Beautiful Tattoos Inspired by Invisible Illness

Turning at the mirror, she brushed the weight of it off the back of her left shoulder and exposed the small tattoo of a full moon.

That had been a young, foolish act, she thought now. Branding herself with a symbol of her disease.

But it served to remind her of what she was, every day. Not just at the full moon, but every day. 
And when she was cured, it would remind her of what she’d survived.

Wolf Moon

___________________

By Amber STclaire (originally posted to Flickr as tattoo_shop) [CC BY-SA 2.0  

(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

When you’re fighting an invisible battle, sometimes a visual representation can help encourage you to keep going and remind you of what you’ve already overcome. 

The Mighty

___________________

“And what’s this here?” He skimmed those fingers over her other shoulder, 

and the

small tattoo of a full moon.

“A reminder, that it’s always part of me.”

Wolf Moon

The Kentucky Derby

____________________

That was her picture, the memory Kelsey would take with her, quiet and comforting amid all the colors and the pageantry.

“What are you doing?”

Kelsey said nothing at first, simply took Gabe’s hand in hers. She should have known he would walk into the scene and make himself part of the memory. “Taking a picture. I don’t want all this to get lost with the parties and the press and the pressure.”

True Betrayals

____________________

Things You Didn’t Know about Your Handshake

Too young to be competition, he decided. He doubted if the guy was old enough to buy beer. 

But there was a territorial sense in the drape of the arm and a look in the eyes that was a combination of curiosity and warning.

The stepbrother, Gabe concluded, and he stepped forward to meet them.

“Haven’t you dried off yet?” he said to Kelsey, and watched the vague annoyance flit over her face.

“It’s a new day, Slater. This is Channing Osborne, Gabriel Slater.”

“It’s nice you could pay your sister a visit.”

“I thought so.”

It amused Gabe that Channing increased his grip several unnecessary degrees for the handshake.

True Betrayals

___________________

By Rufino - hermandad - friendship, CC BY-SA 2.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7783936

Almost any human-to-human interaction goes more smoothly if people first shake hands, finds research in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. By activating parts of your brain tied to social interaction, shaking people’s hands primes them to see you in a favorable light, and lowers the odds of them negatively interpreting your words or behavior, the authors say.

MSN

___________________

Sheriff Curtis Dearborne harbored an innate distrust of outsiders. Since he considered any member of the LAPD an outsider, an East Coast cop was an entity to be watched with extra care.

He was a towering, well-muscled man who wore his uniform proudly starched, kept his sandy

moustache well trimmed and lightly waxed, and spit-polished his boots. Beneath his military sense of polish and style lurked a well of country-boy charm that he used cleverly and with great success.

He rose from his desk when Jed and Dora entered. His square, handsome face was set in serious lines, his handshake was dry and firm.

“Captain Skimmerhorn. Pretty handy you being out our way when we identify the John Doe.”

Jed summed up his man instantly. Dearborne was going to be territorial. Jed’s first move was to

acknowledge Dearborne’s authority.

“I appreciate your passing on the information, Sheriff. I’m sure Lieutenant Chapman filled you in on the mess we’ve got back home. This quick work on your part will be some comfort to Officer Trainor’s widow.”

It was exactly the right button. Dearborne’s eyes frosted, his mouth thinned.

Hidden Riches