V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #47: In-Between

“Shouldn’t be long,” I tell Ric before passing through into the rows of examining rooms. The receptionist who called yesterday, saying there was a cancellation, suggested this was just a consult and preliminary examination. My health has been declining since long before we returned home. The thing about having a chronic illness is that it […]

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A Triggered Response

Don’t know about you, but I read each post with a slightly different eye this week, looking for one that provoked a response. Many did, but none more than Tina Stewart’s Brakebill’s post: Already Lost. Early in my teaching career, I had a troubled student, who was assigned to three out of four classes with […]

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V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #46: Response

For this week’s challenge, I thought it might be interesting to create a post in response to someone else’s work. This might be a poem in response to an image, or an image in response to a poem. It might be an imagined dialogue, or a response that demonstrates how the other has inspired you. […]

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V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #45: Anniversary

“It’s been 45 years, today, since my father passed away,” Ric blurted out the other day. “He’s been gone for twice as long as I knew him.” Easter is a hard time for Ric, as it linked to the loss of many people dear to him. April 15th, for me, represents my first date with […]

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V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #44: Numerology

Numerology – the study of numbers and their connection to life patterns – fascinated me for many years. I came across a book, Numerology and the Divine Triangle which explained the Pythagorean theory of numbers. Like a psychic detective, I set out to uncover the mysteries of life, hoping, as we all do, to gain […]

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V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #43: Rain

Raindrops, not tears,blur my vision –the line of trees before mea glistening blur.The pounding in my templesis just the steady rhythmof watery drip, drip, drip,not the incessant roarof my blood pounding –discordant is this day. I wrote this piece while stranded in Mississippi, with eighteen hours of driving still ahead of us, and no idea […]

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Farewell to Farewells

Total exhaustion has taken hold. Brain is fried, emotions taut, body shot. Monday as we prepared to pull out, my right leg collapsed and as I reached out to stop the fall, I grasped with my left arm, wrenching an already torn shoulder. It did not bode well for the trip home. With a dead […]

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Hello April

April means farewell, for we winter Texans. Not fated to be a quick journey, as problems keep arising, grounding travel, and interfering with our plans. Nevertheless, April means Spring and everywhere we look the birds are twittering with extra fervency – is that romance in the air? And even though we’ve encountered setbacks – breakdowns […]

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V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #42: farewell

As you read this, Ric and I will be saying farewell to Texas and our cozy home on the canal. We leave behind new friends, the countless birds who have so entertained us, and the beautiful Gulf Coast. I am both excited to be home, and sad to end our time here. But isn’t that […]

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To All Aspiring Dads

” I’m worried about my generation, Mom. There are so few male role models to set an example, how are we supposed to know how to live our lives?” My son was fifteen when he shared this concern with me. Having watched his own father turn his back during our divorce, and witnessing the same […]

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