May 20, 2025
It’s odd—letting people behind the curtain like this—but I think it’s good for us to see where stories come from. And sometimes, I need the reminder too.
The second story in DEVOTION is maple hills, and it’s a quiet nod to Dave Shaw’s Here Comes the Roar. That book—especially the story Holding Pattern at D.C. National—has stuck with me for years. The imagery, the heartbreak, the undercurrent of loss and miscommunication, the longing to be loved through understanding—it all seeped in and stayed.
In maple hills, the narrator and his wife are in their own kind of holding pattern. They aren’t flying. They aren’t landing. There’s still love between them, but they can’t communicate well enough to move forward. The narrator thinks about how much he loves her—wants to make it work—but he doesn’t say it. He’s afraid. She’s still wearing her ring, but something’s changed. And he doesn’t know how to fight for something he hasn’t quite lost yet.
He doesn’t want her to leave. He doesn’t want their faltering relationship to hurt their daughter. But he’s stuck—searching the sky for answers. He sees the planes coming in and out of Detroit Metro and wonders how strangers, people with messier lives and bigger problems, can put their trust in a pilot to carry them safely through turbulence and back to earth. Why can’t he and his wife do the same?
That’s where maple hills came from. I took that image—a man on the porch, watching planes, seeking meaning—and layered it with the heartbreak I’d witnessed in others: friends, family, marriages falling apart. People giving up on love. People afraid to hold on.
Check out “Here Comes the Roar” by Dave Shaw. And give “DEVOTION” a shot, as well.
Best,
~ K.J.
Leave a Reply