The time was right, we had to believe that — Thousands and thousands of my rides have started like this: “What made you decide to move to Oregon?” “Adventure,” I exclaim! They persist sometimes, not satisfied by my off-the-cuff response. Some people ask, not because they want to fill the silence but because they genuinely want to know the answer. …

About Me — MW Mercer “Tell me about you” is a question I’ve answered- proverbially- well over 10,000 times in the past 4+ years. That is the tenure of my working with the Rideshare companies. I’ve given over 20,000 rides so far, and interacting with strangers over and over again…

Just a little bit of advice can go a long way — I picked a man up from a small business- new to the area, from what I could tell- and made a joke with him about the name of the place. I was taking him for a twenty-five-minute trip to the airport, and I was trying to break the ice. He…

There are experiences that compel you to share them — I was in 5th Grade, I think. Must have been the summer just after. I went to Christian Bible Camp for the first time. It was there that I got Saved. I didn’t quite understand what I was saved from, but I had watched enough Justice League of America…

Time flies when you’re alive — For a good five years running, my best friend, Peter the Bald Chiropractor, and I would meet. At a St. Louis Bread Company that neatly bisected the distance between his loft and my apartment, every Tuesday morning, and talk. One of the ideas we returned to often was homeostasis. …

Even if I feel like a pretty, pretty princess when I drive one — After my own trusted little Toyota Corolla, Parker, suffered an injury that precluded them from serving the public, I rented a Tesla. There’s no denying it. I? Felt fancy. The kind young person at the rental agency gave me a very brief tutorial on how to operate it, and I…

The longer I’m lucky, the more I fear my luck will run out — Reason #437: Why I don’t read the news? Please don’t judge me for that. I’m at a point in life where I feel like if it doesn’t add to my quality of life, I cut it out. For the most part, the news either confirms my biases or fills me…

It’s not as though I can tell what he intended or if he intended at all — How I wish I had written more about the brief time I lived with my father. At the end of my 16th year through the first three quarters of my 17th year, we were under the same roof. My mother felt she had tried her hardest and put up with…