He used to reach for my hand in the dark. Even though he was asleep, his fingers would seek mine and become entwined. He was an angel on Earth. Now he sleeps eternally.
~~
(image credit: fineartamerica.com)
Written for the Trifecta Writing Challenge: This week we’re asking for exactly 33 of your own words about love gone wrong. But we’re asking that you not use any of the following words:
The beauty of a white world all around,
but I cannot see it beyond my window.
I am entombed by reality,
gestating in the womb of Mother Nature’s swollen belly.
Her raging emotions unsettle me,
her fury becomes my anger.
My sense of peace is replaced by the need to kill.
Thousands of individual victims lay in wait
and my I raise my weapon.
I lose track of how many bodies have been discarded on my property
as my shovel throws more snowflakes to their grave.
I haven’t participated in this challenge for a while but A Word In Your Ear has a great challenge where she opens a page of the dictionary and chooses a word. You can opt to submit a photo, a poem or story, whatever genre you choose to help you describe the word.
This week the word is undulate. As soon as I read the word, I was taken back to one specific moment in my youth that I have never been able to do justice with words.
(image credit: ecopedia.com)
We lay on our backs on the dock at our cottage staring into the beauty of the night sky. The world seemed to stop to allow every bit of life’s energy to be absorbed by the Aurora Borealis. The lake was a sheet of glass and, while the ground lay breathless, the green hues undulated against the backdrop of the atmosphere and reflected off the water. Although we were perfectly still, our bodies felt like we were surfing on the movement of the Northern Lights.
This photo, although beautiful, does not do justice to that night sky so many years ago but it does give you a glimpse into the beauty that we had the chance to absorb.
Suffocating in the palpable tension that filled the air, she sat with her arms crossed and refused to meet their eyes. The lecture was always the same. She could repeat it verbatim and sometimes did, which angered them even more.
Their voices escalated as the barrage of insults was thrown at her like daggers. Their expectation level was unattainable. The longer she listened, the more the words slowly morphed into voiceless sound waves.
They would never know her real gift. Her body remained seated but her soul left, smiling. She found true peace within herself and took to the sky.
~~
Written for the 100 Word Song Challenge at My Blog Can Beat Up Your Blog. I’ve always been fascinated by stories of people claiming to be able to leave their physical body. I didn’t know the story was going that way, but who am I to argue with my muse?
Like the moon held captive in the night sky,
I am suspended in my reality unable to breathe.
My true freedom is a vague memory.
My personal space exists only in the lens of a camera.
Vague reflections of a life I once had are mirrored in that glass.
All I wanted was to reflect my passion through my art.
Fragmented moments alone are stored deep in memory,
treasured few blinks in time that I can grasp and hold tight.
I envy that moon, alone in the night sky
surrounded by stars unable to bridge the distance.
Solitude escapes me.
~
Written for the 100 Word Song Challenge over at My Blog Can Beat up your Blog. You should check it out and follow him if you are not already.
I got to choose the song this week and I chose Limelight by Rush. (yes, it’s a Canadian band and I am Canadian). Although the song has a great rock beat in typical Rush style, there is a sadness behind the words that I felt compelled to share. Neil Peart struggled with their rise to fame and the lack of courtesy shown by fans and paparazzi. Being in the “Limelight” isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=vUNxqE_3N0c
She watched his slender frame exit through the doorway for the last time. Her shoulders were so tense she could feel the pain radiating at the base of her skull. He opened the car door, waved goodbye and he was gone.
She opened the bottle of wine and fell into the couch. For the first time in years the house had a serene quality to it. It was a feeling she hadn’t noticed even missing but now that it was back she allowed that tranquility to bathe her in its warmth. He was now a memory. Time to start over.
~
Written for the 100 Word Song Challenge at My Blog Can Beat Up Your Blog. The song is “Starting Over”, by John Lennon.
The rattling sound in my chest is an inescapable reminder that I am still sick. That coupled with the fact that I could pass for James Earl Jones on the phone have steered me from my objective of getting back to work and led me right back to my couch.
I have never in my working life called in sick to just have a day off. I would never have been able to enjoy a day knowing that my colleagues were doing extra duties to cover my work load because I had lied about my health to have a day of leisure. Even when I am sick, I have a hard time not going to work. But this time I didn’t have a choice – this flu kicked my butt.
I worked a few hours on the morning of the 30th and went back in for a few hours on the 31st but my road paved with good intentions quickly became the road home and I spend the next two and a half days curled in the fetal position in my living room praying for the coughing to stop. I’m not a whiny sick person but whatever this bug was proved that even the strongest people can revert to child-like behavior when they don’t feel like themselves.
Today, after feeling a tremendous amount of guilt for missing so much work, I dragged myself out of bed and made a valiant effort to forget that I am still sick. I was shocked to open the door to a temperature of -34C. After only a few seconds of vehement debate, my car turned over and I was on my way to the lodge. I was greeted warmly by my coworkers until I opened my mouth and spoke a few words. Their smiles turned to looks of fear and, as they backed further away from me, they all told me to go home.
As much guilt as I feel for not being able to perform my job, my bosses and fellow employees made me see that I was doing them more of an disservice by being there and possibly spreading my germs. Although I am past the contagious stage, I quickly heeded their advice and am now curled up on my couch once again with three layers of blankets and a hot cup of tea.
On a side note: I should have realized how severe this flu was when I discovered I haven’t had coffee in four days!!
The welcoming of 2014 was not the night I had anticipated. The beef was waiting in the fridge, the wine was holding its place in the wine rack and I was curled up on the couch nursing a glass of water and a nasty chest cold with a temperature of 103F.
I woke up on December 30th after not showing any sign of illness the previous night and a few hours after getting out of bed, I hit a wall. I spent four short hours at work and was sent home. Being the diligent employee I am, I attempted to perform my daily duties again the next day and sent myself home. I have spent the last three days sleeping, coughing, sipping water and not eating a thing. Today was the first day I attempted some food so I can start getting my energy back.
It seems I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog reading, but I just wanted to wish you all a very Happy new year and all the best for 2014!
The end of the year is nigh. As the clock slowly discards the seconds and minutes of 2013 the mad preparations begin for those who want to ring in the New Year with a bang. Parties are planned, the guest lists are set and the decorations are waiting to be boldly displayed. The party hats are silently waiting in a corner soon to adorn the heads of the anticipated drunken guests and the blowers will soon be filled with alcohol saturated saliva. The song Auld Lang Syne will be warbled, some syllables will inevitably be missed by the inebriated choir, and some words will be hysterically incomprehensible.
This year, once again, I am following a beloved tradition that I started a few years ago – I will welcome the new year at home with no loud music and no intoxicated visitors. Like Valentine’s Day, for me New Year’s Eve is a holiday that I cannot seem to celebrate with the same enthusiasm as others. January 1st is certainly a new beginning but it really is just another day. It does not wipe the slate clean going into that New Year but brings with it all of the memories and experiences from the previous year. I do enjoy embracing a new calendar year and do think about the potential that the year ahead may embody but I choose not to begin that new calendar year with my arms wrapped around a porcelain vessel while popping Alleve like Tic Tacs and drinking more water than a camel that bypassed every pond in the desert.
My New Year’s Eve is quiet, contemplative and subdued. My New Year’s Eve is filled with twinkling lights, rich harmonic voices and the company of my four-legged fur child.
The beef tenderloin is in the fridge, the extra-large uncooked shrimp are in the freezer and an aged Shiraz Cabernet blend that I have been saving is awaiting the countdown on December 31st. This is my perfect New Year’s Eve. This small piece of solitude and reflection before the beginning of a new year is my favorite way to welcome January 1st. There are no noise makers, there are no obscenely drunk people pin-balling from random pieces of furniture and there is no making excuses for leaving early before the big countdown. This is bliss.
After setting up the candles and starting The Tenors ‘Lead With Your Heart DVD’, I will open up the wine and remove the crystals. I will graciously let it breathe on its own for about 20 minutes before I assist in the process and begin giving it mouth to mouth for about three hours. I will let all of the bad moments of this past year remind me of the lessons I learned and I will let the good moments bathe me in a euphoric feeling that I will carry with me into 2014.
Happy New Year to you all and may 2014 be the best year yet!!
Small talk is an art form. It is the informal banter that covers no functional topics of conversation yet seems to fill the void of silence. People generally find dead air uncomfortable and prolonged periods of silence can be unbearable. Regardless of whether or not we know the person, something compels us to bring up some inane conversation and we generally state some very obvious rhetoric to pass the time.
Small talk is a social skill that some have honed over the years and others struggle with it on a daily basis. Perfect strangers may feel comfortable enough to talk about things on a more personal level but the bulk of small talk is made up of conversations about things as uninteresting as the weather. Who knew we all had such an obsession with meteorology?
Depending on where you are when engaging in small talk you can certainly make it more interesting than the state of the atmospheric pressure and relative humidity. It doesn’t have to become completely personal but you can lift the mood of someone’s day by having an intriguing conversation about something they weren’t planning to discuss with a stranger.
Make the first move and initiate some witty and enlightening repartee that will leave both of you in higher spirits. Compliments are always welcome and interjecting some kind words into your small talk will go a long way.
Don’t let your cartoon balloon of small talk remain empty. Fill it with something that will make people think and will allow them to leave your presence with a smile on their face. Be original and be appealing but most of all keep it simple and honest. You never know what new connections you could make by starting with an elementary bit of small talk.
polysyllabic profundities 