Week 2: THEME (26 years)

It was the summer of 69 and I don't mean Brian Adams!  August when I arrived.
Though I don't remember much 'cept that when I was five, my little sister came along.  I'd hang out with dad, we'd go to watch the stock car races in Limestone, Maine.  Yup, I'm a county girl!

We left when I was 7,  Daytona bound.  Too bad it only lasted a month, my dad couldn't stand the heat!  So, back to the county, only this time a new town.  It was still pretty much the same everyone knew everyone.  Somehow, many were related.

Summer of 79, we planted roots in P.I.  It was okay, I made some close friends.  Levi's and Nike's, if I wanted my own, I had to earn my own money!  I guess it was rough, having young parents.  We got by.

P.I. High til my junior year.  Then I had enough of that, it was time for a change.   I made a big move, to Eagle Lake.  1987, Fort Kent graduate.

The end of '87, U.S. Navy looked great.  That lasted over a year.  Met prince charming in boot camp and got me a family.  It was 1995, I found my family, was just us three.  Back to Maine but not the county!  21 with two kids, we got by.  I took them to watch stock car races, it's funny how things come back around.

Week 5: REWRITE THEME

It was a hot summer day and we like to get out.  So we went to a friends for a bar-b-que.  It wasnice out, I love to bar-b-que.  It wasn't my idea, but I went along for the ride.  They like my cooking and I love to cook, so what the hell, I didn't mind.  I fired up the grill and cooked up a meal.  I'm a nutritionist, yeah, I know how to cook.  They liked my cooking, it's usually healthy.  We ate and I found myself in the kitchen, hands in the sink.  You guessed it dishes! I got a little irritated that I cook and then get stuck with the dishes too!

We went for a walk, our friend has a few acres, there's a lot to see.  The trees were blossoming, flowers full bloom.  The wife said, "let's help her!" Our friend had trouble moving about.  She hoped on the rider and began to mow.  She handed me the weed wacker and sent me away.  Not what I expected, did it anyway.  What the hell, cook, dishes, and weed wacking too!

The lawn looked good, my hair a mess!  I got caught up under those trees!

We looked around, talked a bit, and joked around.  Someone mentioned a fire pit.  I dug one at home and our friend loved it!  My wife grabbed a shovel, dug once, then twice.  It somehow ended up in my hand, while the other two sat!  Turns out, I dug another great fire pit!

I don't mind helping out a friend in need but there is a limit.  What was supposed to be a fun day hanging out with a friend turned out to be a bunch of 'to-do's' crossed off her friggin list!  I could have stayed home and worked on my own!

It was one hell of a day!  It was nice to go home.  I didn't do much when I got there.  It was time for some much needed R & R!

Next time I'm invited to a bar-b-que, I'll do JUST THAT!

Week 5: Prompt 20. The battle begins!

We moved to Presque Isle when I was ten.  My little sister was five.  Being the older sister, yup, you guessed it, I have the pleasure of getting her ready for school in the morning, walking her to the bus, watching her after school and yup, watching her on Saturday nights so our parents could go out!  What a joy!

Now I love my sister, don't get me wrong.  When I was about fifteen, I had better things to do than to have my kid sister tag along and go everywhere I went.

I'd have friends meet me at the park and I'd let her hang at the playground while I would wander down the trail.  I'd come back a few hours later, hell, she'd still be there!  It was my mother's way of keeping her eye on me.  Through my sister!

I remember the night I gave her money and took her to McDonald's, I told her to stay there that I would be back.  Little did she know she'd be there for hours while the bf and I went for a ride, well, parking really, what can I say?

So she got a little wiser.  She like money.  Like mother, like daughter!  I started babysitting and she knew I had cash.  So, that's when the fun <sarcasm> began!  I would have friends over as soon as my parents would leave.  Sometimes we'd stay, sometimes we'd leave.  Sometimes just girls, sometimes a boy.  I'd have to pay the little shit to keep her mouth shut!  She'd threaten to tell, so I'd pay her more!  Sometimes she'd tell, oh then there was hell!

Week 13: Prompt 65. In the drawer is a box made of carved and joined bits of driftwood, which holds objects meaningless to anyone else but sacred, precious, unforgettable to you...

When I was a teenager, I did some a really odd thing.  In my room, in my dresser, I kept a photo album.

In that album I kept my memories, neatly organized, all dated in chronological order.

In the beginning there was a photo or two.  I saved movie ticket stubs with the date and name of movie on it.  As I continued to fill the pages, I saved straw wrappers and candy wrappers, each with it's own special meaning.   I saved little notes and included greeting cards all dated in the upper right hand corner.  Score sheets from card games, a feather I found on the ground had special places in my special book.

Odd, I know, but on each page, filled from left to right, carefully placed, depicted a meaningful memory for me!

Week 13: Prompt 65. In the drawer is a box made of carved and joined bits of driftwood, which holds objects meaningless to anyone else but sacred, precious, unforgettable to you...

In the garage, there are some plastic totes.  In those totes are photographs, most of them old.  In those lay memories, past but not forgotten.

Little laughters, sometimes tears.  First was one, then two, then three, and now four.  Yup, all boys.

Trips to the park, birthday parties.  Progressing to roads trips to Virginia Beach and family vacations in Maine.

The little O'sh G'osh jeans, then bigger jeans.  Photo's of you wearing Aeropostle and American Eagle.  School dances, senior pictures, first girlfriends and then some of graduation.

Last ones in there include motorcycles, cars and bar-b-ques.

Where have the years all gone?

Week 13: Prompt 63. REWRITE To see a world in a grain of sand. and a heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour. -William Blake

When I look at the world, I get overwhelmed.  I see problems, issues, sadness, and the ugly truth.  It's gut wrenching to watch the things and issues people fight over or disagree about.  Politics, money, health care, and equality to name a few.  Has life really come to just that?  War, greed, prejudices, discomfort, all too concerning to me and many.  Things I see on the news, hear on the radio, another kid shot at school, when will society learn?

Do we really need war?  What are we trying to prove?  Money, another issue, America has reached is highest debt.  We're broke; yet we continue to keep on giving to other countries!  I don't get it.  Cutting American programs, supporting others.  Letting our neighbors and our children suffer.

Can we all just stop for a moment and take a reality check?  Really, if we could just see that it's just plain crazy;  to fight, bicker, protest, etc. over those things!  We make them big, but in reality are they really as big as they seem? I am active in my interests for the sake of others.  I do my part and role model to help.

I embrace what I have, I try not to take things for granted, I appreciate those willing to help and sacrifice.  I don't judge, it is not my place.  I treat others as I, myself, want to be treated.  I am kind and thoughtful. I am thankful to have food in our country, as others don't.  I am grateful I can go to the store a choose my own groceries.  I count my blessings that I have healthcare available in my country and medicine when needed!

I think if others could see the world through the eyes of a cancer patient, knowing their days are numbered, or through the eyes of the newborn that is on life support.  Only then, will they truly understand, truly appreciate, that what we do have, is something to be grateful for.  I am grateful everyday to have another day, another hour, another minute, another second!

Week 13: THEME Big to small

I love to learn!  Education is very important to me.  I started college in 2006.  Mother of four with a busy and demanding lifestyle I knew it was going to be tough.

I went in through the Onward program, wanting to double major and go to med school.  Leading study groups, joining co-ed sororities, nutrition club, I did it all.  It was a lot on my plate.  I went in full force, taking 15 credits per semester.  Two years, three years, four years, including summers.  The momentum started to give.  I could feel the wind being blown from my sails!

Year six, since the first didn't count.  One major, I've decided is going to be enough.  This semester, my final semester, 6 credits.  Still busy with a demanding schedule, pushing through classes, one by one.  Knocked out my forestry class last week, keeping up with english, biochem lab exam earlier today.  One class at a time, one assignment at a time, I'm pushing through it.  Twelve more days 'til graduation, then eleven, then ten.

Week 12: Prompt 61 A. Ways to Leave Your Lover!

You've though about leaving for years, you just didn't know how.  You ponder and ponder but the answers just don't come to you.  Let me lend you a few suggestions or things you might consider.

Write a letter of explanation, why it didn't work and that your not coming back.
Take a trip but make sure it's only a one way ticket.
Take the dog and get in your car and just drive in on direction~away!
Tell him you've gone to get milk.
Trade in the car he bought you for your birthday and register the new one in another country!
Leave a letter on his pillow, signed, by your new man.


Explain that you love him and that's why it's over.
Make a nice candlelit dinner, tell him your going to slip into something more comfortable and slip out the window.
Leave a letter on the bed telling him all the good qualities he has, how great a person he is and that he will find someone to love him for his qualities.
Tell him you have enjoyed the years you've had together, the roads you've traveled and this is where your journey begins.
Tidy up the house, leave fresh flowers on his pillow, leave his favorite dinner in the oven with the timer set to go off when he walks in and then leave!
Thank him for all that he has done for you, for helping you become the person that you are today, then slam the door and leave!

Week 12: (REWRITE/EDITED) Prompt 59. The door slammed, and I never looked back.

I've spent six long years in college.  I never went when I was younger.  My first year was sort of a refresher, I had been out for 19 years.  I finally feel the end coming near, I begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I have worked hard, much harder than I thought I would need to.  They told us along the way how great our education will be, I have learned a lot.  I am grateful for the experience.  New knowledge is wonderful!  I was told how opportunity will be everywhere with a degree, I'm still searching as I count the days to graduation.  Though I'm excited, it's a little frightening!

Week 12: Prompt 58. I met the most amazing person.

January 2010 is when we met.  Took a drive down to the water front.  It was cold, it was dark, it was winter in Maine.  I pulled in not knowing what to expect.  I walk over to her truck and climbed inside.  We sat there for hours just talking.  We talked about how I had children and how I was done with their father.  Talked about school and the journey I was taking.  She talked about her mom, and how she was ill, dying of cancer.  She mentioned that she wasn't looking, the last was on and off for five years and she was 'all set'.  I wasn't looking either, I was still in a mess.  We agreed, neither were looking.  Six months later, we got married on Hampton Beach in New Hampshire.

Week 12: THEME REWRITE

It's getting sunny, I can feel the edge of summer ready to burst.  Just returned from Maryland's 70 degree weather a month ago.  Yes, living in Maine, things take a little longer to hit this far up north.  My flowers have started to bloom as I can see my chives beginning to grow too!  The sunshine rises about 6 a.m. I enjoy the warmth as I drive to get my morning coffee.  I bought a tanning package this week to get a head start.  Summer is coming, I thought, til I woke up to windy, chilling, rainy 30 degree weather this morning!

Week 11: Prompt 55

Prompt 55. Sometimes humans are defined as tool-using animals. Nowadays, the scientists talk about chimps both making and using tools, but, hey, we're Number One! Tools in their chests, drawers, and wallracks; tools scattered on the table; tools used and unused, new and old; tools of love, tools of war, tools of work, tools of play. Tools can say a lot.


Animals have tools, yet they can't be seen.  You can't touch them or see them but they exist.  They have love for their young, and skills to nurture.  Their sense of smell is their best tool.  It keeps them alive and finds them food.  Their hearing, warns them from miles away of any coming danger.  Their growl or vicious bark is a tool of self protection.  Their kindness, ability to comfort, their loyalty, and unconditional love is the tool that domesticates them.  Human's could learn a lot from them. Are we really number one?

Week 11: Prompt 54

"He ironed all of his shirts, except for the ones he threw away." http://onemillionfootnotes.blogspot.com/

He goes through his closet, all things hung with order, by color, by style.  With pride, he showers and smells good.  Everything is in it's place.  No clutter, papers to the trash, even ones that should get filed.  His car gets cleaned weekly, even when it's still clean.  The four wheeler has to go through the car wash after going mudding.  This goes here, and that goes there.  Just they way he likes it.  Sneakers are bright white, for if there's a spot it gets cleaned with a magic eraser.  Jeans get ironed, won't leave the house wrinkled.  Anything with a spot, or slightly out of date gets thrown away.  Today, he ironed his shirts, the ones he decided to keep.


Sincerely,
~OCD

Week 11: Prompt 52 Add from Uncle Henry's

"1981 Mercedes 380 Convertible w/hard soft top. Beautiful car. Only 54k miles."


It was 1981, mid life crisis.  He bought her off the showroom floor.  The marriage was a bit shaky, he'd get in and go for a cruise when things got rough.  Garage kept, mint condition, always kept her squeaky clean.  You never know when he might pick someone up and take them for a ride.  


Top down, wind blowing through his long hippy hair.  Doing 90 down the highway.  What a way to clear his mind!  


He'd get back, park her back in the garage.  It was smooth sailing for a little while.  When the Mrs. really got him wound, out she came again.  The mileage tells he didn't go very far.  Just far enough and long enough to put things into perspective, so he could cool off.


He was 40 then, now 71.  The Mrs. has passed.  What's an old man to do with a beauty like that, still clean, freshly waxed, parked in the garage.  He knows his days are numbered.  They never had children. What's the point of keeping it?  


So there she is, Uncle Henry's classified.

Week 10: THEME (springboard idea used) You said...but, but, how was I supposed to know you meant--.

You said you loved me.  I used to believe that.  As a child, you held me, sang to me, you acted like you cared, until I was about five.  I believed you and trusted you as any child does.  The years past and things changed.  You taught me children should be loved unconditionally in your own special way.

Fights, screaming, name calling, dysfunction, abuse...what a fucking nightmare!  Your drunk again, coming home to hug me and tell me you love me.  The words you speak when your drinking.

I'm being a smart ass and give dad a hug and am embarrassed because I know the reality.  We don't really show affection in our family!  It's just a front you like others to see.  Behind those fucking walls, it feels like a living hell you know!

Thirteen years old, I jumped out my bedroom window.  I couldn't take this shit no more.  Two black eyes, choke marks, because of your drunk ass.

It was a great summer.  I was allowed to hang out with friends.  We went to the lake and listened to music.  We'd walk around town and go catch a movie.  The bar-b-ques were fun and so was playing frisbee in the park.  It was fun to be a child that summer!

Then I cried to go back...because I LOVE...UNCONDITIONALLY.

Just yesterday you have the audacity to send me an email because you want to know what my last name is on my checking account so you can give me a graduation gift.  I told you I don't want or need anything.  My degree is my gift.  

I know what I needed, she couldn't give me.  She never will, she is too ill.

I tell you my new married name that I have had for almost two years now, then you have to add your bullshit.  "...whatever your name is don't matter. We know the laws in  Maine. And I don't need you to get upset about this. There is enough stress everywhere these days. You know you are my daughter, and I do love you, that will never change. Mom"

This is the same woman who fought with her sister ten years ago because her sister turned her back on her son because he was gay.  He was dying of aids!  

I feel the pain, as I did when I was a child.  I shouldn't engage, it's not my shit, It's hers.  Yet again, I fall and reply, "It matters to me, very much so.  I am who I am.  Really?  Than why do you say those things?  <to her not needing me to get upset> Just because Maine doesn't RECOGNIZE it, doesn't meanit's not real.  Accept it, everyone else has. Many create their own.<stress>"

When I was little you said you loved me.  Now I KNOW what you meant.

*(Couldn't get the font to be the same for some reason.  Quotes were copied from actual email.)

Week 10: Prompt 50. If you don't believe I'm leaving, you can count the days I'm gone.

I told you for years.  You didn't believe me.  I can't stand you, I don't love you.  I'm being completely honest.  I don't want to live my life arguing over nothing all the time.  I can't do it.  My parents did that!  Enough is enough!  I've asked you to leave.  I meant it!  I was not kidding!  You refused to go.  Thirteen years of my life, the first few were okay.  I've told you and I've told you.  When will you get it?

I'm happy now.  I have been for the past two and a half years.  I met this woman, love of my life, who I'm happy to say is my wife.

Do you get it now?  I'm gone!  More than ever, I meant it!  I'm not mean, it just wasn't there.  Your still alone, I'm gone.  You can count the days, the months, the years, I'm gone!  No tears, no regrets, just gone.

Week 10: Prompt 48. Mother Nature, Gaia, holistic, and all-natural too.

I am very much into natural health.  I have been for several years.  I believe that the human body has the ability to heal itself.  I'm not over religious but I do believe that God has given us everything that we need.  It wasn't until 'man' (people) started inventing things for convenience and for the almighty dollar that people became so corrupted.  They throw shit in our food to make us fat, which in turn makes us sick.  Technology advancements, yeah, weapons of mass destruction.  Like we really fucking need that!

I developed my own line of natural skin care products.  I only use natural ingredient that come from Mother Nature.  Olive oil, palm oil, coconut oil, beeswax, and essential oils.  I make bar soap, lip balm, body butter, lotion bars, and deodorant.  I love the stuff and so does everyone else that uses it!

As you can see, money...means nothing to me!  I hate it.

I wish the world could see through my eyes.

I live holistic as nature intended, all natural by choice.

Week 10: Prompt 43. The pin pricks your skin. You feel nothing.

I anticipate the chair with fear.  I have passed out before.  Just the thought of watching my own blood hit the end of the tube makes me queasy.  My heart is racing.

What the hell is wrong with me?  I am a certified phlebotomist.  I worked in a lab and drew blood for a year and a half.  It doesn't phase me in the least to poke someone and I reassure them when I sense they are nervous.  I have to chuckle inside when these big machos come in and sweat rolls off of them.

As she labels the last vial, it's over.  I'm still conscious.