Category: Gratitude

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Reaching

This month, I’m writing posts from prompts in the Writing Down the Bones Card Deck by Natalie Goldberg, shared with me by my friend Barb Edler of Iowa. For this last day of August, the question asks: what are you reaching for? The end of the month provides a perfect time to reflect and set the sails for the last four months of 2025.

I’m reaching for better days ahead

more fitting for a woman of almost 60

to live out some dreams

go traveling

tend the parched plants

pet the dogs

read happy books

wear comfortable clothes

cook meals

drink morning porch coffee

chase waterfalls

sip wine

have time to call my own

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How I Learned to Drive

This month, I’m writing posts from prompts in the Writing Down the Bones Card Deck by Natalie Goldberg, shared with me by my friend Barb Edler of Iowa. Today’s post inspires us to write about how we learned to drive.

In a Volkswagen

I learned how to drive in a

red Squareback stick shift

I still remember those days vividly – especially the day I pulled out in front of a car coming around a curve to make a left-hand turn at the last minute, thinking I had time. I don’t know how I avoided a collision, but I am convinced it was the other driver’s reaction time that kept us from wrecking. My mother was on the passenger side, and I remember the look of sheer fear on her face. She screamed, and the other driver laid on the horn.

This is what comes to mind when I think of the patience of my mother. She didn’t take my license away or put me on restriction – she quietly reminded me of the consequences of decisions that are made too quickly without enough forethought. Unintended consequences often have impacts on others that can’t always be undone.

Some lessons are never forgotten, and some words come rippling back right through the years.

Last night at our County Commissioners’ meeting, in a count of 4 to 1, our Commissioners did something no other Board has ever done in Georgia history. In a “hold my beer” move by one Commissioner who confused courage with a lack of sense, he made a motion to reject the school board’s millage rate proposal. The consequences for this are now that our county Tax Commissioner will not be able to collect taxes until the millage rate is submitted. The deadline is September 1. Today is August 27. I fear for the ripple effect that may close our library doors or other county departments; this impacts far more people than school leaders who are charged with making the best decisions for their schools and taxpayers worried about pennies on the dollar in their own pockets.

The one vote against this act of senselessness was my husband, I’m proud to say. As one who rarely comments or gets involved in politics on any level, I applaud his standing up for what is right in the face of overwhelming opposition. He voted for what was right.

It’s comforting to know that there are drivers who, unlike me in my learning days, do not put others in jeopardy. I rest fully in the confidence of his ability to lead and to drive. I pray for the ones who do not know what they do not know and do not count the costs.

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What Did You Bring

This month, I’m writing posts from prompts in the Writing Down the Bones Card Deck by Natalie Goldberg, shared with me by my friend Barb Edler of Iowa. Today’s post inspires us to write about what we bring – in our purses, on a trip, to a party, in our suitcases, in our book bags or in our cars.

I’m reminded of our adventure book club that met at Barnstormer’s Restaurant in Williamson, Georgia the. month I couldn’t attend. You read that right. I’m reminded of a memory I don’t actually have. We’d recently finished reading a book entitled The Last Flight, where two women change identities to fly off to new lives but then one plane crashes. This inspired us to meet at our local small airport’s restaurant and actually bring a bag of only the five things we would take if we ever left and were limited in our departure possessions. They had to fit in a tote bag or small personal bag you’d carry when flying. We excluded cell phones, chargers, wallets with money/photos, and medications.

Only thing is, that’s when my father was in Hospice in his final hours and I was out of town – so I heard all about what happened at that book club meeting but was not able to attend. Today, this question for the prompt is timely. What would I bring?

5 Things I’d Bring

I’d bring the tiny obsidian dog

to remind me you knew my heart

I’d bring the silver pearl cross

to remind me you knew my faith

I’d bring the pumpkin bread recipe

to remind me you value tradition

I’d bring the bracelet with the cardinal

to remind me you know transcendending love

of motherhood

I’d bring the memories

to carry you in my heart forever

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Open Write Day 2 of 3 August 2025: Hermit Crab Poems

Hermit Crab Poem

Today our hosts for the second day of the August Open Write are Margaret Simon of Louisiana and Molly Hagan of Maine. The Open Write is a place for educators to nurture their writing lives and to advocate for writing poetry in community. We gather every month and daily in April to write together and to share our thoughts on the poems that are born of our shared prompts. Today’s prompt can be read in full here.

My friend Margaret lives on the Bayou Teche in Louisiana.  She and I made a presentation at the Faye B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg last April to share prompts from a book we wrote with our writing group – Words that Mend. She writes a blog regularly at http://reflectionsontheteche.com. Molly lives in an old red house, on top of a hill, in a small town in mid-coast Maine. She blogs regularly at www.nixthecomfortzone.com.

These friends inspire us to write Hermit Crab poems today.

They explain: “Hermit crabs are known for creating inventive homes in all sorts of surprising spaces and containers. As writers, we can use the containers of other types of writing to form inventive poetry!”  A hermit crab poem takes on another existing form, such as recipes, glossaries, quizzes, applications, etc. 

I chose an Amazon Review for my Hermit Crab Poem. I spend time there whenever I’m about to buy a product and thought of how apt it would be to combine the book The Gift of Nothing and an Amazon Review only without the book part. First thing: Pull some of my old Amazon Reviews off of Amazon. I’m sharing them below:

5.0 out of 5 stars Works for my Hard-to-fit-Ears

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2024

Verified Purchase

I don’t usually have such luck with earbuds. They don’t stay in my ears, most of them. These have the ear hooks so that they don’t have to shove all the way in to be effective. I can even wear them with my glasses. And the charge life is unreal – it lasts for weeks.

5.0 out of 5 stars Every Color

Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2024

Size: 7.5Color: CharcoalVerified Purchase

I have them in every color. On my feet all day, I find comfort in these shoes that offer support and traction. Having them in every color takes the guesswork out of what to wear. It may seem boring, but there is a lot of reliability in a dependable shoe that doesn’t rub blisters and offers enough support and comfort to get through the long work days.


5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect comfort
Reviewed in the United States on December 7, 2024Size: 7.5Color: Obsidian Verified Purchase
You can’t ever go wrong with a pair of Tevas. They are like a little cloud of heaven to walk on.

Next, I took some of my actual words from these reviews and applied them to a review for Nothing in a prose poem review-style fashion. Here is my Hermit Crab poem, Amazon review style in a prose poem:

5.0 out of 5 stars: Nothing

I give nothing five out of five stars. It comes in every color and brings traction and support. It may seem boring, but there is reliability and dependability in nothing to get me through those long work days. Nothing is something that doesn’t have to get shoved in to be effective – it works with or without glasses, and the charge is unreal – – it lasts forever, practically! You can’t go wrong with nothing – it’s like a little cloud of heaven, and exactly what we’ll all take when we go there one day. So think ahead: get your nothing today – you will be glad you did!

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Open Write Day 1 of 3 August 2025: Acrostic Poems with Mary Lee Hahn

Mary Lee Hahn of Ohio is our host today for the first day of the August Open Write at http://www.ethicalela.com. She inspires us to write an acrostic poem. You can read her full prompt here.

My One Little Word this year is enough. With the recent loss of my father, a collector who kept everything he ever owned and left seven storage rooms and a house full of “collectible” treasures, my brother and I (both minimalists by choice) are using this word – enough– on a daily basis. We’ve had enough! When is enough enough?? So I chose enough as my word for my acrostic.

Enough

Even

Nothingness

Offers

Us

Generous

Harmony

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Late Arrival

This month, I’m writing posts from prompts in the Writing Down the Bones Card Deck by Natalie Goldberg, shared with me by my friend Barb Edler of Iowa. Today’s prompt card inspires us to write about arriving someplace late – a dinner, a job interview, a funeral, an appointment. I remember my father saying that my first marriage should have ended long before it did, and these words prompted my haiku poem today.

I arrived 19

years late to my own divorce

by the grace of God

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Being

This month, I’m writing posts from prompts in the Writing Down the Bones Card Deck by Natalie Goldberg, shared with me by my friend Barb Edler of Iowa. The prompt today captures the essence of what it feels like when you are all set to write, new journal and pens, time on your hands, the perfect chair, and nothing comes to mind that you feel like writing about. Today, Goldberg asks us to just write who we are, what we are feeling.

Layers of Being

when Dad woke up

after the shock

he announced he was

surprised to be here

and declared, I’m different

and it has me wondering

whether we exist in layers

of being

and when several get

torn away at once

we feel the going

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Writing Down the Bones: Tough Thoughts

This month, I’m writing posts from prompts in the Writing Down the Bones Card Deck by Natalie Goldberg, shared with me by my friend Barb Edler of Iowa. Today’s prompt asks this question: What will you have to say goodbye to when you die?

Breaking the Glass

one day on

Michael & Kelly,

Strahan said

if you stay ready

you don’t have to get ready

and I think it applies to

Heaven too

so after losing Dad

who could never say

goodbye to seven storage rooms

and a house full of stuff

I started pitching things

so I won’t have much to leave~

maybe I’ll break the last wine

glass right before heading

into the light….

or maybe I won’t

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Writing Down the Bones Card #3 of 60 – I’m Looking At…

This month, I’m starting the journey of writing through 60 cards from Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones, introduced by my writing group sister Barb Edler of Iowa. Last month, our small group of Stafford Challenge writers (Denise Krebs, Glenda Funk, Barb Edler and I) wrote using one of the cards, and this month – just last night on our Zoom writing call – we wrote using the prompt on another one. Today, the prompt is simply What I’m Looking At. I used those words to get started and let them meet me exactly where I was in that moment.

I’m looking at

the swirl of the birdbath

each drop from the roof

plunking in, rippling the surface

each morning breeze

casting dance shadows

with rain and wind

bringing the promise

of the changing seasons

a respite from the heat

to the cool, healing waters

just feet from where I sit

so close

I can almost touch it

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Writing Down the Bones Card #1 of 60

The day before I turned 59, I’d just arrived at my brother and sister-in-law’s house after the five hour drive to the coast of Georgia, where I’d spent most of the summer as our father’s illness took a southward turn and he’d joined our mother in Heaven. I am blessed beyond measure that my brother and I get along so well and share a bond that is rooted in caring deeply about each other and honoring the wishes of our parents – and a sister-in-law I wouldn’t trade for the world. After my brother’s many years of waiting for his soul mate, she’s that long-awaited life partner who, while grieving her own father’s loss two months before ours, is helping steer our ship and keeping us focused on what lies ahead. Ken and Jennifer greeted me and helped me bring in my bags – the suitcase and clothes for deep cleaning Dad’s house. I’d had just enough time to hug them hello and pour a glass of Riesling before logging on to meet with a group of writing friends.

At our monthly small-group Stafford Challenge writers’ Zoom in July, my friend Barb Edler of Iowa introduced our writing topic that evening. Here we were ~ Glenda Funk in Idaho, Denise Krebs in California, Barb Edler in Iowa, and me in Georgia – connecting the state dots in a wonky square on the map but connecting squarely with each other after years of writing friendship. We know each other better than most friends who see each other day because ink is our family bloodline ~ we’re writers and readers of each others’ lives. So when Barb brought out the Writing Down the Bones Card Deck by Natalie Goldberg, she gave us a license to pour out onto the page whatever was on our minds.

The card said, “Begin with ‘I’m thinking of…’ and every time you get stuck, simply come back again to ‘I’m thinking of’ and keep going.”

We did, and we shared. I expressed how much I enjoyed those cards, and a few days later, Barb asked if she could get them for me for my birthday. Since Amazon Prime Days had rolled around, I’d already ordered them, so I confessed I’d bought the set for myself as a gift. Imagine my surprise when a few days later, a box arrived at the door. Barb knows my affinity for postcards and garden fairies, and here was a gift of sheer delight to bring joy to my spirit. I placed the fairies in the front porch plants and began coloring one of the peace-bringing adult coloring postcards designed to help regulate breathing and give the mind rest.

Today, a listish prose poem of all the things I’m thinking of……

I'm Thinking Of

I'm thinking of how my brother and I showed up at Probate Court and the one who gave us the oath noticed that we weren't like all the rest because she said our deep care for each other was visible, not like those fighting ones who get mad if the other gets more than they do ~ and I'm thinking of how I was deeply touched that she could see that my brother and I are more focused on making new memories together, us and our spouses, than quarreling over a set of dishes neither of ever intends to actually use because we'd rather be cruising around Iceland with just a carry-on bag in a pair of familiar blue jeans and worn tennis shoes than having holes in our hearts at our own tables, pouring coffee from an antique Pyrex stovetop percolator that isn't even practical and having no one to remember our lives with.  I'm thinking of how now, we're who each other has to remember all the history.  

I'm thinking of when my sister in law popped around the corner of the sofa with a birthday cake with my name on it, and she and my brother sang Happy Birthday to me, knowing full well that even spending the day cleaning Dad's house and busting our asses and being sore, there was nowhere I'd rather be that day than with them, even if we weren't out exploring the world making new memories.  Because these, too, were new memories - the cleaning and cussfests about all the stuff, all the stuff, all the random impractical collectibles and moldy books, and the sweat and grime of togetherness - this, too, is its own adventure and memory that will never be forgotten.  

I'm thinking of how my writing sisters, the three I meet with monthly and the others I call or who write in different circles with, know me better than the people I see every day because the book is always better than the movie, and with writing relationships people know exactly how you feel and what you're thinking in a way that the face to face ones just have to guess about why you raise one eyebrow from time to time or massage your right temple, never really knowing why and never even asking.  I'm thinking of how we read each other's blogs and are such an eclectic mix of personalities from vastly different walks of life with trauma, sadness, blessing, empathy, understanding, passion, and soft spots of the heart that draw us together as humans and fascinate us about our worlds, and yet how at the end of the day, we are as alike as it gets, as writers.  Just like how Maya Angelou explained us in The Human Family.  We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.  Maya knew.  She knew.  

I'm thinking of how much more there is to write about and how just this one card conjures every invitation, every memory, to want to be unfolded and to flow from brain to screen as this is happening now, right through my fingertips tapping out the rhythms of life on an Apple MacBook Air keyboard that really is the conduit to healing in all forms, this thinking and tapping and pausing for breath of thought........

And I'm wondering what others are thinking of today and whether they need a card with a prompt to invite them to share, and whether someone would call 911 if I picked a random stranger in WalMart and walked up and asked them what they were thinking of and they said they were thinking I was insane so I needed to be apprehended and taken in for questioning.  

I'm thinking of all those things and more......