(Re)Fresh(ing)

(This week’s prompt is “fresh”.)

We were off to find the bank before they closed. We had fifteen minutes.

“Let’s jump in my Jeep!” And off we went. We headed past the freeway overpass and down the highway. I was taking in the beautiful green of the outdoors, and the freshness of the clear blue skies.

The traffic was pretty heavy. Of course, it was a Friday and everyone was trying to get home and/or get out of town. To make matters worse, he hadn’t jotted down the address. He had just noted the street name. I thought he knew where we were going. Soon, I realized he was just heading to that street, hoping to be able to spot the bank quickly. The novelty of not having this all planned out was quite alien to me.

We got to the intersection where he thought the bank was and he tried to scan all directions while driving. I looked too. He drove into one shopping center where there were three other banks. It wasn’t there and he headed for the exit. When we got to the driveway, we both spotted it at the same time. It was to our left and the driveway exit was a right turn only which was actually blocked by all that traffic!

I couldn’t believe it! He looked back, put the Jeep in reverse and backed out of the driveway enough to make a U turn in the driveway. Luckily, the traffic coming in the driveway was cooperative. No one honked. No one flipped him off. In his haste to complete the U turn, he actually jumped up on the curb with the front tires of the Jeep and then drove on the curb about four feet with the right rear tire, too.

Klonk! And off of the curb we went. People were staring in disbelief. I shook my head and laughed. He looked at me and said, “That’s what I love about my Jeep. It takes me any place I want!”

“I’m thinking I’m really glad we brought YOUR car!”

We both cracked up!

Fire Rose*

“True friendship is like a rose.  We don’t realize it’s beauty until it fades.” –Unknown

This rose was in the parking lot where I parked the other day.  It was so beautiful that I had to photograph it. I’m glad I stopped to catch it.  Next time I go to that parking lot, it will have opened completely and probably wilted.  Thank goodness for small cameras that fit in purses!

*I don’t know the name of this rose but to me, it looks like fire!

A Mother’s Consolation

At least I know they’re all good kids. I hear it from everyone. All three have learned to be good, decent humans. It didn’t happen by itself. I had something to do with it. Their father only taught them that there are selfish, self-centered people in the world. I get compliments on the kids all the time. Everyone tells me what great kids I have. That’s my consolation. They’ve turned out to be dependable, decent, and caring people AND they learned it from me!

One Thing I Know

One thing I know for sure is that, regardless of what I do, people will always criticize me.  I won’t make everyone happy  And, since that’s the case, I should just worry about me.  For once, I NEED to be selfish, even if  don’t want to.  Somehow, what I want for me will be seen as selfish, even though it is really what I have to have for my own survival.  I have to follow through with my plan.  I guess I should think again about what Jane said all those years ago: “Take care of yourself or you won’t be able to take care of anyone else.”

Promise of Spring

SPRING

Footsteps

Footsteps echoed in the darkness.  The stillness of the night allowed me to hear everything~
cats prowling in the bushes, a distant cough, joggers’ feet lightly touching the ground, and yes, those footsteps

I wondered who the footsteps belonged to.  They were firm, solid footsteps.  Self-assured.  This person knew who they were, what they wanted, and where they were going.  I admired that.  I always have.

The two men I have been most attracted to in my life had that walk…the one that told me they knew who they were.  The one that told me they knew where they were going.  No, they probably had a lot of doubts about who they were and where they were going, but what I mean is that they had this inner knowledge of who they were as a person and what they were willing to do and not do to remain true to themselves.  They knew where they were going in that they knew which lines they could cross and which they could not.

I liked that about them.  I still do.  And I hope that one day the footsteps echoing in the darkness will be coming toward me, toward my house, my person, my life.

(written from a prompt: footsteps echoed in the darkness)

Chance Meeting

Today’s set of 3WW words is: rest, sidewalk, and twice. I chose to just pull a story out of thin air…

Twice Marianne tried to walk down the sidewalk to get to her car and twice she had run into an obstacle. The neighbor from three doors down was saying goodbye to his girlfriend the first time around and Marianne didn’t care to intrude on their smooching and grabbing of each other in very personal places so she had gone back home.

The third time around, she had to get to her car. If she didn’t, she would be late to pick up her nephew, Terry, at the movies. She couldn’t do that. Her sister was depending on her and so was her nephew. If Marianne was anything, it was punctual and reliable. As she neared the neighbor’s house, she watched as they seemed to be having a fight. He was walking away from her and she was pursuing him. It seemed like he had gotten mad at her and she was trying to make it up to him.

“I’m sorry Ben. I know it was wrong. I knew it when it was happening but I couldn’t stop myself. I’m so sorry, Ben. It won’t ever happen again.”

“You’re damn right it won’t happen again. You can screw around on someone else but not ever on me again. Do you hear me Virginia? Do you understand? I’m not taking you back. You can run off and screw your married boyfriend anytime you want but don’t ever come around here again!”

Marianne crossed the street. She had to get to her car parked down the block now or she would be late. Marianne figured she would cross the street and get passed the arguing couple and then cross again to get to her car. As Marianne crossed the street, a car came screeching around the corner and before Marianne could move out of the way, the car was upon her.

She woke up groggy, feeling like she needed a lot of rest but she had to get to Terry before it was too late. She got up off the bed she seemed to be in but before she could sit up, a young man’s arms gently reached for her and pushed her back down. “Marianne, you’ve had an accident. You’re okay but you have to go to the hospital with us. You’ll be fine. Just relax.”

“I can’t go to the hospital. Terry. I have to get Terry. He’s waiting for me. Terry…”

“She’ll be okay. I think she has a concussion but it looks like she’ll be fine. Let’s get her to the hospital.”

“Okay Doctor. We’ll get her there as soon as we can. Are you coming or shall we pass this on to the doctor on call?”

Marianne’s neighbor wanted nothing more than to get away from the philandering girlfriend. “I’ll ride with you. She’ll be fine but this one is mine. I’ll go along.”

As the ambulance drove off, the young doctor’s attention was riveted on his patient. Anything to get away from his former girlfriend.

Empowered

This week’s Writer’s Island prompt is “empowered.”  Here is my contribution…

I’ve been through an awful lot and a lot of it could have been avoided if I had not been raised with certain traditional and cultural values.  Don’t get me wrong.  Values are wonderful but only if mixed with common sense and reason.

Me Want Cookie! Cookie! Cookie! Cookie!

When I was in college, my niece lived near my parents and when I went home for vacations, she spent a lot of time at our house. She was the cutest and one of the smartest little girls I had ever seen. I think she was about five or six at the time. Her favorite show was Sesame Street. The show having premiered when I was in 8^th grade, I had never seen it before my niece began to watch it but I enjoyed watching with her. I found it entertaining and educational. My favorite character was Cookie Monster and I could not understand why my niece would start crying and leave the room whenever Cookie Monster came on the screen. I guess it was something about him being a “monster” that sent her running in a panic whenever Cookie graced the screen.

When my own kids were little, they enjoyed the show which gave me an excuse to watch Cookie Monster, one of my favorite characters. I also liked The Count and Oscar the Grouch. My girls had stuffed Cookie Monsters more than any of the other characters, probably because he was MY favorite and I’m the one who bought them the toys! I still love Cookie Monster.

Today, when I opened iTunes, it began to download some of the podcasts that I subscribe to. One of them, NPR Driveway Moments, featured Cookie Monster today. I listened to it as soon as it was finished downloading then I went to NPR’s website for more information and a video—a very cute video. I found out more about Cookie from listening to an interview with puppeteer Frank Oz, who was the voice of Cookie Monster (as well as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle, and Bert). Frank Oz summarizes that one of the reasons that Cookie was so well liked and so successful is that his character is sweet, sensuous, and tactile. All he wants is his cookie. When he gets it, he’s satisfied. And, in Frank Oz’s words, “…he is not going to knock anyone down to get his cookie; he’ll go around someone to get it but he won’t knock them down. He cares about others even if all he wants is his cookie…” Yeah, I think he’s right. Cookie’s a sweet guy. That must be why I like him so much!

I thought I would share the website info with you. To hear the interview, you will need iTunes, which is a free download if you don’t already have it. If you have it, you need to go to Podcasts and search for NPR. The program this interview was on is called “Driveway Moments” and it is the most recent podcast in the series. It’s a seven minute program. Once you’re done listening to the program, you can go to the website to watch the short and entertaining video of the “in studio interview” of Cookie Monster. The site is: http://www.npr.org/blogs/incharacter/2008/02/cookie_monster_comes_to_npr.htm

 

 

Warming Sun

brilliant, warming sun

breaks through my window

I yawn, close my eyes

roll over, pull the covers

over my head

not yet, not yet

then it hits me!

it’s the sun!

finally, at long last, sun!

birds serenade and greet

the newly lit day