Day 23 Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

OK, yesterday would not make one of my top ten favorite days. It had some positive aspects, like I made serious progress on the book I am editing for another author and I got to spend a little time with one of my nieces when I took her out shopping for a Mother’s Day gift, but other than that, the day was not wonderful to say the least.

We had the viewing for one of our local, and very much loved, teachers last night (the service for the other local teacher who passed last week is set for tomorrow). It was absolutely heart wrenching. She was my age, has a young daughter and was taken so suddenly – she went from not feeling well to dead in less than a month. Her passing has left all who knew her in absolute shock.

As if a viewing isn’t enough to turn a normal day sour, we also received confirmation that a local girl, one who graduated with my son, who had been missing for a month was in fact the body NYPD had pulled out of the Hudson. This beautiful, intelligent, promising life was snuffed out before she could reach her full potential, and it is just heartbreaking.

The icing on the cake, and in no way as monumentally significant as my other reasons, the seamstress we chose to alter my daughter’s prom gown has potentially ruined the dress. Thank GOD, I told them I needed the dress for today or we really would have been in a pickle. The senior prom is actually next Friday. We are going to the shop at 10 this morning so my daughter can try on her gown after 4 previous fittings. If it is not right, I will be taking it to another tailor who told me he would take one look to tell me if the gown was salvageable or if we needed to go shopping. My daughter fell in love with and purchased this gown almost a year ago and the thought of having to scramble for a dress the week before the prom is making me a little ill. Please say a little prayer for me that the original gown is finally fixed properly and we will not have to endure the added stress of having to find another gown.

I sincerely hope your day was better than mine!

Yesterday’s challenge was:

 

You are helping clean out your grandma’s attic and find…

 

Unlike me and the others in my family, my grandmother was not a pack rat. Everything in her home had its place and there was never, and I mean NEVER, any clutter anywhere. However, on average, every other year, she would get a bee in her bonnet and insist on purging, and just as my luck would have it, this year’s frenzy happened on a weekend I was spending at her house.

For the first hour or so, I followed the whirling dervish about the house, not accomplishing anything except to get in her way. At one point she stopped, stared at me and suggested I see if there was anything in the attic I could clean out. I realized this was her polite way to tell me I had started to annoy her, so I complied. I climbed the stairs, chose the room on the right and looked around. Not a speck of dust to be found, not a single item out of place, heck, even the curtains were freshly laundered and pressed. As far as I was concerned, the room did not need to be purged, but I knew if I did not come downstairs with something she would not be pleased.

The small closet in the eaves was my only hope at success so I headed there, slid the door open and was instantly discouraged. Before my eyes were neat little alphabetical rows of labeled, dust free, containers which held my grandmother’s various craft projects. At this point, I have started to entertain the idea that I may have been adopted, but I am determined to find something, anything in this closet which can be removed. So, I crawl in, into the far corner where the light barely reaches, and then I saw it, my holy grail. There, in the spot where the roof met the floor in a perfect isosceles triangle, was a dusty shirt box. I had struck gold! I shimmied my way out of the closet, careful not to dislodge any of the dust which clung to my treasure, and made my way downstairs.

I could tell by the look in my grandmother’s eyes she was amazed I had actually found something purge worthy. She praised my find and told me to throw it out. I protested and stated I would not throw it out until I knew what the box contained. It was at that point when I was banished to the back porch so as not to scatter dust.

Your Day 23 Challenge is:

 

It was the most romantic proposal ever…

 

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.