It’s been a good long trip and we are here for our final evening. I just heard the cat hop off of the chair upstairs – his domain – and he is now eating. Amazing how sound can travel down the stairwell. I am sitting in the staircase room in one of the yellow wing…
Tag: flash essay
Prompt: Take a Traumatic Event and Write How You Would Change How You Acted
When I was nineteen, I was sexually assaulted. A boyfriend turned mean and perverted what had been a loving sexual relationship. I spent three days locked in his apartment with him terrorizing me. I will turn 59 in a few weeks. I have spent the last 40 years carrying those three days with me. I…
Prompt: The Value of Writing or Not…
Blankness. That’s where I am now with this writing thing. Pure blank. Why is that? I can look around and see prompts I could start with: a chair, a lamp, a staircase, a corgi, a clock, folded clothes, a mirror and yet…I am not finding myself jumping in with any of these. Why? Because I…
Trying to Keep the Resolutions Realistic
Habits I Would Like to Cultivate in 2012: I want to keep these resolutions simple: 1) Walk every day at least 30 minutes. That seems like nothing, but I will have to push to make this happen. I get into my sedentary routine and the next thing I know it’s three years later. 2) Write…
Reflections on 2011
Am I the only one or did this year just fly by, blending strangely with the last two or three? It’s hard for me to even isolate 2011 in my thoughts. I may have to work backwards to have any clarity on what happened this year. First, my beloved sister-in-law Sandra died in 2011. That…
“Christmas” Night Here in Texas
We just finished cleaning the kitchen after a fun and lively “Christmas” dinner with our family, two of our nieces and our Aunt Holly. We had the usual holiday fare – except chicken instead of turkey. We actually brought a turkey in an ice chest from LA, but it was so cold coming that it…
We’ve Made It
We arrived around 10 pm this evening at our home in Texas, exactly thirty minutes earlier than my husband’s projected time. The house was lit up, the Christmas tree all set after having been put up before we left the last time. We hauled in our bags and boxes of groceries we brought from LA…
Christmas Day Travels
We are en route to Texas, just getting settled at midnight at our motel 30 miles east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. We left LA at 5:45 am, stopped at the Grand Canyon, and are now here with outside temperatures right at 5 degrees. The roads are open, but there is snow in piles that has…
Eve of Christmas Eve
It is the eve of Christmas Eve and I have never before approached Christmas from this angle. We have decided to have our official “Christmas” once we’re in Texas, so tomorrow we’re just having lasagna and salad for lunch as a nod to Christmas Eve and attend church at 5 pm. No gift exchange, no…
Christmas and the “Spiritual” Gene
We don’t have a tree yet. Is it too late? It seems a bit on the late side. When I was growing up, my mother wouldn’t let us decorate the tree until Christmas Eve. “After all,” she’d say, “Christ isn’t born until Christmas Day and there are twelve days of Christmas.” As a kid I…
20 Minutes a Day 