A Good Way to Start the Day

 

            I woke up this morning absolutely determined to do some writing. I have been making a huge effort this week to get more exercise and even go on a (cringe) diet. I won’t bore you with the details of the diet. Suffice it to say that after a year of increasing my work hours followed by a vacation to Hershey, it had to be done. The only writing I’ve been doing this week is in my diet journal. I was determined today to do some real writing. I was not even going to check e-mail or Facebook. I was not going to read any blogs. I was going to get up and write!

They like us! They really like us!

            I dutifully recorded my weight into my log (down two pounds—yay me!), got a cup of coffee, and opened my laptop. I was ready to write. I was not going to get sucked into reading something else. I wasn’t… that is until I realized I had left the computer open to Facebook and I had a lot more notifications than usual. Curiosity got the better of me and I checked. This was one of those rare times I’m glad I got distracted.

            Several of those notifications were messages of congratulations. This past winter, I was in a production of The Odd Couple. It was the first time I had been on stage in over ten years. I must still know what I’m doing, because I was nominated for a DASH (Distinguished Award and Special Honor) for Best Specialty Ensemble along with Maureen, the brilliant woman who played my sister in The Odd Couple. DASH awards are given out by the Eastern Massachusetts Association of Community Theatres. There is a big gala at the end of the summer. It’s a good thing I’m on a diet, because I think I’m going to need a new dress.

100 Word Song: A Light Left On

 

            “Everything okay Bud?” I called, hearing little footsteps in the hall outside my bedroom door.

            “I brought you something,” Brian said. His face was shy and serious as he presented his Scooby Doo nightlight.

            “What’s that for?”

            “You keep leaving Daddy’s light on all night. I thought maybe you were afraid of the dark since Daddy went to heaven.”

            I didn’t even realize I was doing it, but Brian was right. Peter’s platinum wedding band looked like a holy relic resting in a pool of lamplight on his nightstand.

            “You keep that nightlight Sweetie. I’m not afraid of the dark.”

            For this week’s One Hundred Word Song, Lance presented us with the song “Leave Your Light” on by Tim Eriksen as a source of inspiration. It immediately made me think of Michaela, whose story I haven’t visited in a while. She’s the “star” of my very rough first novel "Lost and Found". If you like it, click here for more.

Closer

            Charlotte opened the sunroof of her little Honda coupe. The cool autumn breeze shattered the perfection of her carefully styled hair. She pressed number three on the CD changer and sang along:

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains

I looked to the children, I drank from the fountain

There's more than one answer to these questions

pointing me in crooked line

The less I seek my source for some definitive

The closer I am to fine.

            Today she stopped trying to be someone she wasn’t—the person she had tried to be for years. She was more than a brilliant student. She was more than her research. She didn’t have a name for what she was and that was okay for now. For once, knowing the answer didn’t matter. She knew without question that this was the right path. Realization surrounded her like armor, like a warm blanket, like sunscreen. The time was right.

            Her cell phone rang. She glanced at the number and tossed the phone into the passenger seat.

            “Not today Honey,” she said out loud. “Today belongs to me.”

She pulled into the passing lane and sped up. Going faster, but no longer running away.

 

I’m linking up with Write on Edge today. Our prompt for the week was to write about “Freedom” in 400 words or less. For once, I didn’t have a hard time sticking to the word count. Charlotte has a lot to say. But for now, she’s just enjoying the ride. She has an interesting journey ahead.

Ten

Happy Birthday (not-so) Little Bear! You are a blessing!

In Which I Get Angry and Political

 

            I was away all last week with my family on vacation. Today’s blog post was supposed to be a wrap up of the wonderful time we had. But that will have to wait. A former classmate posted something that happened to a member of my college family on Facebook last week that got my blood boiling. I don’t like to discuss religion or politics. It’s something I rarely do I real life and do even less frequently on this blog. But once in a while I feel like I need to stand up and say how I feel. This is what made me so angry:

            This was printed by the Washington DC group who calls themselves "Public Advocate of the United States" and was mailed out across Colorado to attack Sen. Jean White, a supporter of civil unions. What makes the particularly despicable is that it is the actual engagement photograph of a couple from New York City. The original looks like this:

Image if your personal photograph commemorating one of your most precious memories was distorted and used as a weapon to limit someone’s right to marry the person they love. I understand that there are folks out there that believe that gay marriage is wrong. To those people I say, don’t marry someone of the same sex, don’t go to a church that performs same-sex weddings, and if you get invited to a same sex wedding don’t go. But do not stand in the way of your fellow tax paying citizens having the same rights you take for granted.

            I am straight. I am a wife. I am a mother. I am a Christian. I am a patriot. I support same sex marriage. Bigotry and hatred are not family values.