Category Archives: challenges

Slaying the dragon

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Even if it is broken, it can’t always be fixed ~SN.

My mother always used to tell me that I like to find the ‘broken ducks’ and fix them…..and it’s true.   I seem to be magnetically drawn to people who I think I can “save” in some way, even though they may not be looking for salvation.  If I look at it honestly, with no rose-colored glasses, my childhood perpetuated this need to create a sane world in a universe of quiet insanity.  On the outside our life was perfect, but on the inside there were things that created the person I am today and ingrained the need to make life as perfect on the inside as it seemed on the outside.  But I chose to focus on others rather than focusing  on myself.  I felt the need to create a picture by painting by the numbers that belonged to other people instead of the numbers on my blank canvas.  I grew up as a child of two alcoholic parents and the need to fix my parents spun into a life of restoring a sense of normalcy in every life but my own.

No matter the size of sword you carry, sometimes the dragon is bigger than you anticipated and it cannot be conquered by steel alone.  Although I spent many years of my youth trying to slay that beast, it had far more power than I anticipated and my life became a battle far greater than a teenaged girl was prepared to face.  The need to vanquish that dragon spilled into my marriage and the cycle of alcoholism and redemption breathed new life.  The dragon was alive and well with a different face and a new attitude, but it was the same dragon I had been battling for years.

slaying the dragon

(Photo courtesy of Google)

Perhaps it was the wisdom that came with age, or perhaps the sword I had been wielding had gained strength over the years, but the dragon I was faced with in the days of being married didn’t seem to possess as much strength as the dragon of my youth and I was able to overcome its fiery existence and reclaim the life I was meant to have.  Maybe that dragon still lingers, awaiting its chance for revenge, but I have finally drawn the line.  My stance is rigid and I am ready for that battle.

If there is anything this blogging journey has taught me, it is to be honest.  Not only honest in my life, but honest in my writing as well.  And whether that honesty presents itself in traits of a character or a mere extension of myself in this forum, it is freeing.  I have shared parts of myself I never thought I would divulge and it has liberated a piece of myself long since buried.  I have fixed myself by escaping the confines of my past and breaking down the walls that caged my future and instead have trapped the dragon in that cage.

I don’t know if I’m writing this to remind myself of the strength that I need to hold close to my heart or if I am writing this to finally free the dragon that I may never slay.  Regardless, tears slowly slide down my cheek as I free this last bit of anguish and look ahead to what will be.  I cannot change the past, but I can certainly shape my future by letting that dragon rest as I move on to a new castle that is free of that beast.

My life is a blank canvas.  It awaits a new story board and a tale that is yet to be written.  And maybe the canvas is slightly damaged, but I will embrace those impurities because the vision of the artist still holds the potential for a beautiful new masterpiece that is waiting to be created.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

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Daily Prompt today is this – You need to make a major change in your life. Do you make it all at once, cold turkey style, or incrementally? 

I have had a great deal of change in the last two years of my life.  Because those changes deeply affected my life, they had to be well planned and contain a great deal of thought.

The first was the journey to lose weight.  I didn’t want a quick-fix fad diet that would guarantee losing 10 pounds in 3 days, I wanted a lifestyle change and I wanted to be healthy.  With a great deal of effort, I shifted my focus from ‘living to eat’ to ‘eating to live’ and it was worth doing it incrementally.  I lost 50 pounds and have kept it off.  Had I done the quick fix diet, I’m certain I not only would have gained the weight back, but increased my weight by a few more pounds.

The second major change was my divorce.  I had slowly become a person I was never meant to be.  I was drowning in a sea of bitterness and anger and those waves threatened to take any air that possibly remained in my lungs.  The decision to end my marriage was a monumental change in my existence, and after many failed attempts at fixing that relationship, I had to admit that it was beyond repair.  I left the broken pieces behind and slowly began rebuilding my life and rediscovering the happy person I once was.

Both of those changes deserved the time spent to follow through appropriately and go through the proper stages.  I may have over-thought both of them for a while, but in the end, I am where I need to be.

Trifecta challenge – Twisted Serendipity

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He had been standing in this exact place at least a thousand times.  He could find the precise location by the position of the trees and rocks and he loved these hills for their privacy.  He was always alone in this place.  Wildlife took shelter when they saw him and birds would stop in mid-song when they sensed his presence.  There was something unnatural about him.  The animals felt it, and he knew it too.  But he couldn’t stop himself.  He knew eventually his tenacity would pay off.

She arrived in the late afternoon on a Tuesday.  She didn’t look lost or scared and her camera hung loosely around her neck.  She didn’t notice that not one creature was making a sound as she concentrated on her footing, careful not to fall in such a remote place.  Had she been more aware of her surroundings, the silence would have been deafening.

She stood admiring the sun beginning its decent into the hills and took one step, two steps, inching closer to get that perfect picture.  The mouth of the hole he spent hours carving opened and swallowed her into the earth.  It was his moment of serendipity.  His fortune, her accident.

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He was pleased with himself.  He would come and visit her tomorrow and he left the way he had come.  The shrill song of the birds awoke her from unconsciousness and she let out a scream that nobody would hear.

~

This was written for the Trifecta challenge, which was this (and I think I have read too many Dean Koontz stories):

This week they are looking for stories or poems from 33 – 333 in length that feature the word: mouth. Not just any definition of the word will do though. Only the third definition shown below is accepted.

MOUTH

1a : the natural opening through which food passes into the body of an animal and which in vertebrates is typically bounded externally by the lips and internally by the pharynx and encloses the tongue, gums, and teeth
b : grimace <made a mouth>
c : an individual requiring food <had too many mouths to feed>
2a : voice, speech
b : mouthpiece
3: something that resembles a mouth especially in affording entrance or exit: as

  a : the place where a stream enters a larger body of water

  b : the surface opening of an underground cavity

  c : the opening of a container

  d : an opening in the side of an organ flue pipe

Laughter is the best medicine

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This post is going to be a little off my normal course of writing, but I needed a laugh today.  This is day four of no running water since my pipes froze on Tuesday night when the temperature plummeted to a nasty -36C (that’s -32F for all of my US friends).   I maintain my usual positive attitude although it was tested last night when I lost power for four hours.  Most of the heat we had been blasting into my basement to thaw the pipes had been beaten into submission by the continual sub-zero temperatures.

While I do love my little house and the expansive property that surrounds it, I would not be devastated to come home from work and find that the large tree that currently towers over my little house had fallen and split my tiny abode in half.  I’m certain my insurance company would not want to travel the distance to make sure the tree showed no signs of foul play.  In the event such a “catastrophe” occurred, I have already designed a replacement house.  You can never be too prepared for disaster!

If you have not seen the classic runway model wipe-out in the video below, I urge you to spend the two minutes and have a good laugh.  It gets me every time ~ I cannot decide which is funnier, the awkward wipe out itself or the reaction of the news anchors.  Happy Saturday everyone!

 

Sunset – Trifecta challenge

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After reading Edward Hotspur’s post this morning – I thought I would give it a try.  I’d never heard of the Trifecta challenge, but I love new and inspiring things.

And now on to our quick weekend challenge.  This weekend, we’re sending you back to English 101 to revisit the concept of literary devices.  We want you to give us a 33-word example of personification.  Wait.  What?  You forget what that is?  It’s the practice of attaching human traits and characteristics with inanimate objects, phenomena and animals (http://literary-devices.com).  It’s when the wind howls, the car door grunts, and the front porch shrugs its shoulders under the weight of its own history.  Remember?  For some writers, it’s the backbone of their art.  This weekend, we want you all to give it a whirl, and we can’t wait to see what you come up with.  Good luck!

Cruise 2010 - after St. Thomas into St. Maarten 284

The breeze gently tickled the leaves.  The frogs sang in harmony welcoming the night as the sun pulled up the blanket of the horizon.  The darkness stretched and settled in for the night.

Take a walk in my shoes

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Judge me not by what you see of my first appearance.  Do not drink in the sight of me without first appreciating the ingredients that were combined to create the final product.  Although by outward appearance you think you may know me, know what I’m made of, but the recipe for this product is the result of a myriad of ingredients.

Before you judge me, put on my shoes and walk through my past.  See what it is that has shaped me and made me the person I am today.  Wear those shoes and glimpse into the experiences that have carved out the life I have led.  Hold fast in those shoes while the toes point precariously over dark chasms and walk freely in them as they guide you out of harms way.

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Skip happily through my successes, but always be prepared at a moment’s notice to plant those shoes firmly in defiance of those who wished to take advantage.  There is knowledge and power in those shoes.  They hold the key to my existence.  They have led me to triumph and helped me run from despair.

So before you make up your mind about me, take a walk in my shoes.  Watch my journey unfold, and only after you have glimpsed the many facets of reality that have made up my life, only then may you cast your judgement.

Step aside, I brought my cape

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Oh Daily Prompt, you got me two days in a row.  Good for you.  Today’s challenge – Honestly evaluate the way you respond to crisis situations. Are you happy with the way you react?

When it came to handling a crisis, my father was Superman.  His cape is currently bronzed and on display in the vault of my memories.  He had the rare gift of being able to not dwell on the crisis itself, but instead focus on the necessary course of action that needed to immediately follow.  I owe him a great debt of gratitude for passing that trait on to me.

There have been many moments in my life that I have had to rely on the sturdy cape that was hidden so delicately beneath the shroud of my clothing.  It has never once failed to unleash itself when required, and last summer it was put to the test.

I work at a large family resort where chaos can ensue at any moment.  We entertain approximately 350 guests each week and we have been lucky to have avoided any major catastrophes, but last summer the God’s of Fate pointed their fickle finger and decided our time had come.

The front switchboard phone had been ringing incessantly, and I picked up one of the calls.  The sheer panic on the other end of the phone made my heart accelerate to ten times its normal rhythmic beat.   The woman on the other end of the phone was sobbing and between her deep inhalations, the words “my husband is having a heart attack” fell like scrabble tiles onto my desk.

She stayed on the line while I was simultaneously dialing 9-1-1 and alerting our lifeguards to the location of the room the gentleman was staying.  Once they were on route, I contacted the owner of our Water Ski program who is a volunteer fire fighter and first response.  There were five staff members at her suite in a matter of two minutes.  After directing the ambulance to the proper location, the minutes that followed felt like days.  The wife, daughters and grandchildren were seated cross-legged on the lawn across from his room, their tears saturating the grass.  It wasn’t until several hours later that we found out the dear man had not survived.

Even through what was undeniably one of the most traumatic experiences in their lives, and mine for that matter, the family was extremely gracious and thankful for our quick action and thoughtfulness.  It was not only my cape that flew proudly that day, but I’m certainly glad it has weathered each crisis that it has been called to handle.  It never falters, and is ready at a moment’s notice to attempt mend whatever is broken without a second thought.

Images in Clouds

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A Word in Your Ear has a weekly photo challenge which I just learned about – this week’s word was cloud.  I love photographing clouds and thought I would participate.

These are a few of my favorites.

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clouds2

clouds

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 The last one I love because it looks like I live in the mountains – far from it, but at least I can pretend every now and then.

Thanks Dad!!

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This post is in response to the Daily Post Challenge – Quote Me.

My favorite quote is actually something my dad used to say and it never left me.  We, like 90% of families in the world, went through our hardships and during those undulating financial and emotional times, he would never let anything steal the smile from his face.  He would always say “where there’s a will, there’s a way” and somehow, we always found that way.  It really speaks volumes about the man he was and the lessons he taught us about perseverance and never giving up your dream.

I should have actually used this quote in my earlier post today, it would have been quite fitting!!

Projectile vomiting and football

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I am a huge NFL fan….I have been since I was old enough to know what I was watching on television.  Maybe that was my initiation  into becoming a tomboy, who knows?  Regardless of which came first, the pigskin or the scars, I am who I am.

football

I was fortunate to meet some good friends in 1999 who ran a fantastic restaurant and an equally great football pool.  Back then it was on a piece of legal paper, hand-written, with a relatively legible set of football picks.  I had explained to these two dear gentlemen how much more impressive it would be to have an Excel spreadsheet that could total wins automatically and the gauntlet of running the pool was immediately thrust into my hands.  Since 2003, I have grown the pool from twenty participants to sixty-five.  I am affectionately known as “The Commish” during my favorite season of the year – football season.

During those many years, I have only been close to the big prize once – and after a horrific showing in week 17 of the regular season, I dropped from first place to fourth place in a matter of hours and right out of the money.  For years, it was known as the ‘crash and burn’.  This year, I find myself going into week 17 tied for first place and the memories of that fatal crash are bubbling to the surface.  My heart is racing (thankfully I took my blood pressure meds this morning) and I needed to find a distraction to quell the feeling of sickness in the pit of my stomach.  Hence, this blog post.  I apologize for what could be seen as needless drivel, but writing not only distracts me, it calms my nerves.

I will be truly happy for the winners, whatever the outcome, but it would extremely uplifting to overcome that stigma of being the sorriest pilot in the NFL pool flight academy.

The large screen beckons, the green turf is inviting and the voices in my head are telling me to trust my gut.  That may be difficult since my gut may be sent hurtling across my living room soon, but I’ll give it the old college try!!  Go Chargers!!