It’s been almost four months since I came home for the quarantine. I’m in the suburbs now, where my parents have lived for the last 20 years. In the mornings, when the neighborhood still sleeps and the lawnmowers haven’t yet begun their Floridian summer sonata, I go out to run. I take advantage of the … Continue reading Voices in the Morning
I spent this past year in Chicago at a job that I can’t say I loved. In July I left the job, moved home for a few months and spent a lot of time thinking. I had realized over the last year that during the weeks I was doing well in my sales job, I … Continue reading How Would You Know You Weren’t Being A Phony?
A few weeks ago I moved back into my college apartment. I've been gone since December and the time between when I left and right now included camping in Oregon, climbing mountains in China, and exploring cities like Tokyo and Shanghai. Lots of adventure. I studied and worked some of my time abroad, but I … Continue reading Let’s Stop Saying “Back to Reality”
I just heard a guy in the elevator tell his friend, "See you in 20 years, I guess." Well. At first that sounds crazy. Why would you wait that long to see a friend again? But when you look past the initial craziness of the comment, and think about it for about five seconds longer, … Continue reading To The Friends I Might Never See Again
The first memories I have of music are of sitting in the backseat of my Dad’s forest green Honda Civic with my brother, and my Dad driving us home
He asked us how many, we said "2." Then, a little girl popped up from behind the podium and offered to take us to our table upstairs. We followed her as she proudly told us that the restaurant was her mom's. We got to the table and she gave us the menus. But then, she … Continue reading Imagine This
I'm on the metro coming home from a 9-5 day at work. I'm standing in the corner next to the doors listening to a podcast called “Startup.” In it, an entrepreneur named Alex Bloomberg tries to open up a podcast company. But in the particular segment I’m listening to, he is reading Shel Silverstein’s classic, … Continue reading The Four Kids on the Metro on the Way Home
"It doesn't even feel real." Last night, I texted this to my mom without even thinking about it. I was responding to her message letting me know that my grandma has passed away peacefully after multiple battles with cancer. And it really doesn't feel real a day later either. Have you ever felt that emotion when someone that's extremely special … Continue reading That Feeling you get but Don’t Understand
"Aw, I wish I could, but I have to..." For a while, that was my response to a lot of invitations to hang out. Even though I really wanted to go most of the time, either schoolwork or other obligations took precedence. Because in the end, I get graded on these assignments, and those grades affect my … Continue reading When I Realized Something Obvious
Stefano Montali 