Tell Us A Story, Grandma!

February 28, 2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

“Tell us a story, Grandma! Tell us about when you were a girl?” The question throws me. First, because childhood is so far away, but secondly, because my stories are tainted with pain and hurt. Looking into this pair of eager eyes though, I know they want a story filled with good will and hope. […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #37: Story

February 25, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

My very first blog post on this site is entitled “Relevance of Story“. It was inspired by the work of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie whose Ted Talk: The Danger of a Single Story, challenged me to think differently about how, as a teacher, I approached my craft. Her words are also a recipe for living compassionately. Each time we open a blog post and read, we are touching a part of someone’s story. Every time […]

Wild Card Moments

February 24, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Age, I’m determining, does not define me. Each new decade presents a different attitude and energy in regards to life, and sixty is but a new approach. Naturally, the onset of a debilitating illness and all the losses I incurred, made me feel old and redundant, but I’m happy to say, I emerging from that […]

Texture

February 21, 2019.Reading time less than 1 minute.

This crumbling foundationa testament to character –hard battles fought and won. I built fences, long ago –tried to bury my fallaciesbut all that decays, too Structures either maintain or not,but life continues, a constant flowlike a river, softens our perspectives. (Images for Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: texture. Words penned for my ‘wild card’ challenge, my […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #36: Wild Card

February 18, 2019.Reading time 1 minute.

This week, I am giving you a carte blanche…well, sort of… there’s a catch. Go back over the last week’s worth of posts or so, and notice any words or phrases that repeat themselves. I’m talking adjectives, or verbs, maybe nouns. For example, when I look over my posts leading up to writing this one, […]

Restoring Balance

February 17, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

Fog has dissipated, as has the rain. Hallelujah. Although it is still overcast, we decide to take a drive, cameras in tow. Goose Island State Park is our planned destination. It has just the right combination of driving and walking trails. This is also where we saw the Whooping Cranes, so maybe we’ll get lucky […]

In The Maze

February 14, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

I read once that when obstacles present themselves, it means you are on the right path. I think it was Caroline Myss. Of course, I’m paraphrasing, and from memory at that. What’s important is my takeaway. Life isn’t meant to be easy. It is meant to challenge and encourage growth, just as the gardener who […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #35: Balance

February 11, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

I don’t think I’ve possessed good physical balance since that time I went down in tennis and cracked my kneecap, despite physiotherapy’s best efforts. Now that chronic illness has been added to the mix, I’ve learned to live without that certainty. I’m wobbly; what can I say? Balance in other areas of my life, however; […]

Of Pelicans and Life

February 7, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

Ric spots them first – an almost endless line of birds heading our way. American White pelicans! They gather as a group just above where we are stalled, waiting for the ferry, and circle the area before continuing their journey. As one group leaves, another follows in a seemingly endless stream. “There must be thousands!” […]

V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #34: reaching

February 4, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

“…she singled out a cedar, wide at the base, narrowing as it grew. If there was any kind of portrait worth doing, it would be the portrait of a tree. But a portrait had to convey character. The channels in this cedar’s raw umber all stretched upward, reaching toward light. It was more than a […]

Wings

(Written during my bedbound years with ME/CFS)

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

May is Myalgic Encephalomyelitis awareness month. Also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, this disease is characterized by exhaustion after exertion. The exertion can be physical -taking a shower; emotional – worrying or obsessing; or mental- filling out forms. The best source of information about ME/cfs, as we call it, is the Bateman Horne Center. They […]

Sorry

Sorry –so much inadequacybundled into one wordas if five letterscan conveydepths of regret,shock, dismay seems I am the sparkto your lighter fluid –unintentional, I swear still reelingfrom the aftermathof the explosion attempting todeconstruct theformula –precautionary I am sorry –that you are enraged,that you are so obviously disappointedthat you are consumed with resentment –except, it is […]