Category Archives: Daily Prompt

A Lesson Tethered to a Bad Memory

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A sunny spring day and all the kids were across the street playing. I decided to take Buffy outside with me without a leash, something I never did – not even as a ten-year-old.

We went across the street to the Mandy’s to  play with the other neighborhood kids. Buffy was so happy to be the center of attention. But she didn’t know the limits like we did.

I saw her run towards the street. I saw a car going to fast coming down the street. I yelled for her to come back but she didn’t. She ran in front of a parked car. The speeding Mr. Jolly didn’t have the chance to see her.

I heard the thudding sound under the car. I heard the screech of the tires. I heard the screaming inside my head and the bursting of my heart.

Me, the one who treated even my stuffed animals with care and tenderness. And I would have to live with this new feeling of intense guilt.

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I know. Not such a “jolly” memory for today’s prompt. Nevertheless, a true story that changed my life. Life is full of lessons tethered to both good and bad memories.  Over the years, I have loved many dogs and I do my very best to keep them out of harm’s way.

via Jolly

Waiting for Our Hearts to Mend

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I will gorge myself with feathers

to be light upon my feet

as I traipse across the foothills

shaking every paw I meet

I will stroke the furs with touches

soft and kind will be my voice

as I offer safety, comfort

and a reason to rejoice

But one specific fellow waits

to be uncaged, set free

my precious friend, I’ll be there soon

both rescued, you and me.

 

For my sweet Cole – a mini-Aussie current with his vaccines –  who was sent to quarantine for nipping  the Fed-Ex man on our property.

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via Gorge

Yes, Virginia, There Is

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Back then, I waited on pins and needles. Not “tenterhooks”.

I’d never heard of such a word.

When I was a youngster, the big stress of Christmas was waiting.

Waiting to put up the tree.

Waiting to to see the traditional lighted candy canes line the neighborhood streets.

Waiting on Christmas Eve to spot Santa in the sky as my sister pointed.

Waiting to get home from Christmas Eve services to open presents.

Back then, the magic simply happened.

Beginning around 3 or 4 decades ago, it was I who became the magician, the puppeteer, the puller of strings to recreate a tradition.

Today, the magic for me is seeing the joy, the excitement and the sparkle of light in my grandchildren’s eyes as they witness the marvel of Christmas as it “simply” happens.

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For those of you who are unfamiliar with the inspirational news article written in 1897, please read, Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

 

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via Tenterhooks

 

The Truth Bites Like a Ratt’ler

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Dad’s ignoring me as usual, but I guess that’s better than a slap on my face. Mother dries off the breakfast skillet, picks up a fussy Delma, and says, “Cono, yer goin’ te town this weekend te sleep over at Mamaw’s.”

“How come?” I ask.

“Aunt Marguerite and Aunt Eva are there. They wanna see ye.”

Well, I can see all the way down to the truth, and it feels like I’ve swallered a ratt’ler. Dad’s still mad that I’d bitten that toothbrush in two and doesn’t want me around. I don’t want to be around him either.

Still, I don’t want to go. I like Dad’s sisters well enough, but I want to stay here with baby Delma.

Mamaw, Dad’s mother, is the toughest grandma I know. It would be a whole lot easier if I just ran away and caught a train to somewhere else. As I sit on that idea like a chicken warming her eggs. I decide against it. Everybody says that the trains are filled with starving hobos on their way to California. They say they like to eat children under the age of twelve. I’m afraid they’d eat me too even though I’m little and skinny.

I guess I have to go.

 

Excerpt from No Hill for a Stepper

 

via Age

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The Good Thing about “Meh” Posts

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Yesterday was a “meh” post day for me – a cute puppy and an attempt at a witty daily word prompt.

The good thing about a “meh” post is thinking about it.

So, today, learning the new prompt, I thought more about puppies and remembered something. Something I was told and continue to love.

A few weeks after a friend’s beloved dog died, he had a dream. In the dream, “Max,” Ethan’s Cocker Spaniel, came to visit and spoke to him.

Ethan said, “Max, I didn’t know you could talk.”

“Of course we can,” he said. “We’re just not supposed to show it.”

“Well, what do you do all day?” Ethan asked.

“Oh, I sit at the feet of God.”

Ethan said, “What does that feel like?”

“Well, you know how when you yawn and, when the yawn’s over, how good it feels? It’s like that.”

 

I love this dream.

So I wonder if the God in Ethan’s dream is surrounded by a zoo of deceased and beloved pets, all yawning with contentment. I hope so. It’s a beautiful image.

Thinking of you sweet Lizzy and Luther.

via Zoo

Proceed with Caution

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“Always pay attention to your surroundings,” Dad always told my sister and I.

Perhaps he said this because he grew up in West Texas during the Depression  – a place and time with caution at every turn of a dirt road.

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(Dad on right)

And, perhaps he remembered this piece of advice from his stint as one of the original deputies for the county Sheriff’s Department.

(I do remember, though, that toward the end of his life, he stopped needing the advantage point of sitting with his back up against a wall.)

Perhaps Dad was covering his ass – literally.

His maternal grandfather, my great- grandfather, used to tell him”

“Always pay attention ta what’s around ya. ‘Cuz if ya don’t, something’ll come up and bite ya on the butt.” 

And perhaps, my great-grandfather said this because he himself didn’t have any teeth.

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via Bite

What are they talking about?

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This makes no sense to me. I have no experience with such things:

“Get inside the vehicle and depress the clutch to shift the car into “Neutral.” Insert the key into the ignition and turn it to the “On” position. This is the place the key would be after a normal turn of the ignition switch for starting. Instead, with a clutch pop, the ignition will already need to be on so that when the engine is turned over, the key is in the On position.Move the car in position to be pushed from behind or sent down a slope for the starting procedure. Check to see that the brakes will …”

What? Huh?

To me, this is what happens when you pop the clutch:

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via Clutch

Sisters of Mercy

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Oh the sisters of mercy,

they are not departed or gone.

They were waiting for me

when I thought that I just can’t go on.

And they brought me their comfort

and later they brought me this song.
Oh I hope you run into them,

you who’ve been travelling so long.

Yes you who must leave everything

that you cannot control.
It begins with your family,

but soon it comes around to your soul.

Well I’ve been where you’re hanging,

I think I can see how you’re pinned:

When you’re not feeling holy,

your loneliness says that you’ve sinned.

Well they lay down beside me,

I made my confession to them.

They touched both my eyes

and I touched the dew on their hem.
If your life is a leaf

that the seasons tear off and condemn
They will bind you with love

that is graceful and green as a stem.

When I left they were sleeping,

I hope you run into them soon.
Don’t turn on the lights,

you can read their address by the moon.
And you won’t make me jealous

if I hear that they sweetened your night:
We weren’t lovers like that

and besides it would still be all right,
We weren’t lovers like that

and besides it would still be all right.

–beautifully written by Leonard Cohen

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via Mercy