March 8th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Sorry there was no blog yesterday. I got involved in my editing project and then, for the first time in forever, a scene from one of my own stories popped into my brain and I needed to get it down on paper. After, I took Lys to Kohl’s so she could spend her birthday money, made it home by five to straightened up the house because Dani had a bunch of friends sleeping over, got Dani over to Applebee’s to meet her friends, then rushed back home to get ready for a wake.

It’s sad to realize my friends and I are getting to the age where we are starting to bury our parents. I think I will be in the clear for a while because my folks were only twenty when they had me, so they are still young. Many of our friends though aren’t so luck; their folks are in their seventies and eighties. Now I don’t see my parents every day, my mom once or twice a week, and my dad once or twice a year (which will diminish to once every few years because he’s moving to Florida in a few weeks), but I couldn’t imagine what it would be like not being able to pick up the phone to call them whenever I wanted.

At one point last night, as the crowd was thinning, Mrs. L broke away and went over to her husband’s casket. I could see her, but I wasn’t close enough to hear her, which is probably a good thing or I would have completely lost it. She spoke quietly to Mr. L, stroked his hair, gave him a kiss on the forehead, and spoke some more. I turned away and tried to compose myself. As much as I cannot imagine my parents no longer being around, the thought of my husband not being there scares me to death. Yeah, I’m not going there.

Although I will not be attending the funeral today, my thoughts are with you Mrs. L, Lisa, Terri, Michael, David & Patti. Your husband/dad was a special man and I know he will be sorely missed.

I refuse to end on a sad note, so I shall ramble on just a little longer. After I finish this, I need to run to the store real quick because Lys used up all the eggs last night baking brownies, and I have over half a dozen sleeping teenagers strewn across my living room at the moment who will be waking up hungry and without eggs, I can’t make a dang thing for breakfast. Just what I wanted, a grocery store run at seven in the morning. UGH. I should be a witch and wake Lys up and make her go…but I won’t.

After I get all these kids fed and out of my house, I need to load up my van and do a run to our local scrap metal yard. With my husband’s job, he goes through A LOT of those big chunky square batteries. He has to replace them for clients all the time, and when he does, he takes the old ones and throws them in the back of his work truck. When the bumper of his truck scrapes the driveway when he comes home, we know it’s time to empty out the back of his truck. We usually end up with a few hundred pounds worth of batteries three or four times a year, which translates into around a hundred dollars from the scrap metal yard. Hey, a hundred bucks is a hundred bucks, right?

Okay, I guess I should get going. I hope y’all have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge was:

Create a holiday (you can thank Lys for this one)

I thought long and hard over this challenge, because coming up with a new national holiday is a pretty big thing. First, when would this holiday take place? Since August is the only month where we do not have a major holiday, the choice was easy. Then came the timing in the month, should it be a set day or a floating day like Memorial Day or Labor Day? I think everyone enjoys having a three day weekend, so the holiday should fall on the first Friday in August, a break half way between the Fourth of July and Labor Day.

Now the hard part, what kind of holiday? I propose Samaritan’s Day, a day when you are required to be nice to your fellow man. An entire day when no one is allowed to bring any harm, and only good will abounds. This shouldn’t be difficult for a majority of the world to abide, for I truly feel, as a whole we are innately good. However, I know there are exceptions, and for those who fail to abide, there should be a stiff penalty, like a hefty fine and a minimum mandatory one year incarceration. Because, come on, how hard can it be to be nice for just one day?

Your Next Challenge is:

Write a story containing the following three words: Cactus, Coyote & Porcupine

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.