Today is my Lil Sis's birthday!
She's the dark haired beauty in the "Back Country" T-shirt.
The other lovely lady is her friend in Scotland.
Happy Birthday Sis!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Friday, January 30, 2009
Sunday Scribblings - Regrets
This weeks Sunday Scribblings prompt: #148 -- Regrets
Got any? Things you wish you'd done differently? Things you wish you'd said or not said? Things you want to be sure to do and say now so that you don't end up with regrets?
Regrets. I have too many to mention. Don't we all? I think the most important thing about regret is to learn from it.
Years ago I had a young friend, a cousin. We enjoyed talking about movies and music. Her older sister was married and my younger sister was dating, so we began to hang out together. She was such a kindred heart to mine.
One Wednesday evening, she had dropped by my place for a visit. We shared coffee, made plans to see a movie, listened to record albums, talked about our dreams, and laughed...
As she left my house, and disappeared from view, I had the strangest urge to run after her and give her a hug. I was not a hugger! So I called out, "Where are you going?" She answered, "My car is parked on the side street. I'll see you Friday night!" "Okay," I replied, "See you then." I went back inside trying to shake that strange impulse.
Friday afternoon her life was taken from her. How I wanted that moment back! Just to hug her and tell her what she had meant to me. Such devastating, painful regret! I had never felt anything like it.
In the days and weeks that followed it ate away at me. Then I made a decision... I would not let a day go by without letting the people I loved, know that I loved them. This was very hard for me. I had learned to protect myself by keeping many things inside.
Over time, I became a different person. It became easier to set my insecurities aside and be more giving. I learned to reach out with a hug, a handshake, a smile. This wasn't easy and still isn't some days. I tend to want to withdraw into myself. I learned a hard lesson in one devastating moment of regret, and it has stayed with me.
I like to think, that somehow, she knows she touched my life with her sweet spirit and her laughter.
Copyright January 2009 - ajj
Got any? Things you wish you'd done differently? Things you wish you'd said or not said? Things you want to be sure to do and say now so that you don't end up with regrets?
Regrets. I have too many to mention. Don't we all? I think the most important thing about regret is to learn from it.
Years ago I had a young friend, a cousin. We enjoyed talking about movies and music. Her older sister was married and my younger sister was dating, so we began to hang out together. She was such a kindred heart to mine.
One Wednesday evening, she had dropped by my place for a visit. We shared coffee, made plans to see a movie, listened to record albums, talked about our dreams, and laughed...
As she left my house, and disappeared from view, I had the strangest urge to run after her and give her a hug. I was not a hugger! So I called out, "Where are you going?" She answered, "My car is parked on the side street. I'll see you Friday night!" "Okay," I replied, "See you then." I went back inside trying to shake that strange impulse.
Friday afternoon her life was taken from her. How I wanted that moment back! Just to hug her and tell her what she had meant to me. Such devastating, painful regret! I had never felt anything like it.
In the days and weeks that followed it ate away at me. Then I made a decision... I would not let a day go by without letting the people I loved, know that I loved them. This was very hard for me. I had learned to protect myself by keeping many things inside.
Over time, I became a different person. It became easier to set my insecurities aside and be more giving. I learned to reach out with a hug, a handshake, a smile. This wasn't easy and still isn't some days. I tend to want to withdraw into myself. I learned a hard lesson in one devastating moment of regret, and it has stayed with me.
I like to think, that somehow, she knows she touched my life with her sweet spirit and her laughter.
Copyright January 2009 - ajj
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Sunday Scribblings - Phantoms & Shadows
#147 -- Phantoms & Shadows is the prompt for this weeks Sunday Scribblings.
Things and people, times, places, events and how your memory has treated them. Are there people you try to remember more clearly, phantoms you'd like to reach back into the past and take a firm hold of? What do you remember of your early school years? College years? Your grandparents? First pets, first houses, first friends? Do you have a good or poor memory? If you could go back to any particular time/place to recall more vividly what it was like, what would that be?
Here is my response to the prompt:
Memories. They come flooding in like a heavy rain. Laughing with my little brother. Squeezing Mom's arm (our version of a hug). Living out back yard adventures with my little sis.
Digging bare toes into the dusty ditchbank. Dropping to my knees to watch the water skippers. Caught one! It looked huge in my small hand. I gently let it drop back into the water and it glides smoothly away across the surface. "Come wash up for dinner!" Grandma calls to me from the back door.
We sit. Grandpa says the blessing. I listen as they talk about the day. Sis keeps kicking my leg under the table and I'd like to smack her a good one, but I know the penalty is too high. Instead I give her the "you'd better stop it right now or else" look. She just grins. It's hard to be mad at a face like that.
The back yard is warm and breezy. Grandma sits in the white metal lawn chair. Sis crawls on her lap with a book. "Wead this to me Gwamma." It's "I Like Kindergarten" and I listen as I search in the thick lawn for a four leaf clover. I found one once. I keep it pressed in my Bible.
As the sun begins to set, the moonflowers start to open. I watch with fascination as they turn from bud to bloom. Yellow, like a summer moon. I can smell the sweetness of the copper roses in the air.
Memories come and go. I must remember to put them to paper while they are here. Too quickly they fade into the distance and are forgotten.
Copyright January 2009 - ajj
Things and people, times, places, events and how your memory has treated them. Are there people you try to remember more clearly, phantoms you'd like to reach back into the past and take a firm hold of? What do you remember of your early school years? College years? Your grandparents? First pets, first houses, first friends? Do you have a good or poor memory? If you could go back to any particular time/place to recall more vividly what it was like, what would that be?
Here is my response to the prompt:
Memories. They come flooding in like a heavy rain. Laughing with my little brother. Squeezing Mom's arm (our version of a hug). Living out back yard adventures with my little sis.
Digging bare toes into the dusty ditchbank. Dropping to my knees to watch the water skippers. Caught one! It looked huge in my small hand. I gently let it drop back into the water and it glides smoothly away across the surface. "Come wash up for dinner!" Grandma calls to me from the back door.
We sit. Grandpa says the blessing. I listen as they talk about the day. Sis keeps kicking my leg under the table and I'd like to smack her a good one, but I know the penalty is too high. Instead I give her the "you'd better stop it right now or else" look. She just grins. It's hard to be mad at a face like that.
The back yard is warm and breezy. Grandma sits in the white metal lawn chair. Sis crawls on her lap with a book. "Wead this to me Gwamma." It's "I Like Kindergarten" and I listen as I search in the thick lawn for a four leaf clover. I found one once. I keep it pressed in my Bible.
As the sun begins to set, the moonflowers start to open. I watch with fascination as they turn from bud to bloom. Yellow, like a summer moon. I can smell the sweetness of the copper roses in the air.
Memories come and go. I must remember to put them to paper while they are here. Too quickly they fade into the distance and are forgotten.
Copyright January 2009 - ajj
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