Announcements, poetry, TTOT

Ten Things of Thankful-January 13, 2025

Photo by Raul Kou017eenevski on Pexels.com

Happy TTOT Time! So many things to be thankful for…Let’s do this!

  1. Another birthday! This time it was for my sweetheart. We had a home celebration with a favorite meal. He had cheesecake at work, so nothing made at home. But…there’s always ice cream!
  2. Workshop time! We had an interesting Poetry Workshop at the Garden of Neuro. Chyrel Jackson and I taught it. The theme was “Social commentary from the perspective of community, race, rage, social injustice.” We are writing a group poem as a result.
  3. Projects that find a way to getting done. Whew and I sent another book to the press.
  4. Cardinal spotted! I don’t see them often and never have seen one on the porch, but there was a fat one looking for dinner, just hopping around the porch. He didn’t like what I had to offer. I suppose the squirrels will.
  5. Sister memories. Speaking of cardinals. Cardinals are symbolic-in our family-of memories about my nephews Michael and Keith. Both were Saint Louis Cardinals fans, big time. My sister, who passed away a few years ago in January, received a cardinal painting from my great niece, who painted it.

7. As a family, we participated in the Angel Card Project for Christmas. We expanded this, now to other occasions. As many of you know, daughter makes cards. She has been sending more cards for special occasions, such as if someone is sick and needs cheering. And now, she seems to have become the sympathy card sender. She decided to make some sympathy cards awhile back and now she’s being asked. It’s a great feeling to know that someone might smile when they receive a card. I am happy that daughter has found this hobby.

8. Glimpses of heaven. A friend shared their testimony about how they had a near death experience and how they were told, from the other side, that what they would take with them, what the memories would be, would be the love. Love is the one thing that you would remember and take with you. It really got me to thinking about how the soul is simply full of love moments.

9. Flowers and a sweet exchange. My sweetheart loves flowers. It’s understandable, since his father established a tulip bulb business in Mount Airy, NC after years of traveling from their home in the Netherlands. Sweetie doesn’t really feel comfortable picking out flowers for me, but since he would like me to enjoy them, he makes sure I can get some when I get a notion. My go to place is usually Trader Joe’s. I was there last week, picking out a bouquet, and a lady probably my age struck up a conversation with me. She was selecting a bouquet for herself. She was so sweet and telling me about her relationship with her ex and how she preferred the flowers over him. ha-ha All through the store, I kept running into her and she always smiled. I just found this to be a joyful moment.

10. You! What’s your thankful this week? Please share. Oh, and this is coming up! I will be one of the presenters. 🙂

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Short Fiction, short story

Cardinal Dreams – Six Sentence Story

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Photo by Adam Muise on Unsplash

Gathering up his son’s clothes, tossed about the bedroom floor, Daniel looked at his slumbering son as he lay with his ball glove secured in hand and his signed baseball had rolled off onto the blanket. Hair tousled in rings of curls, Jeffrey slumbered away with little boy dreams.

It was not long before this night, that Daniel and Jeffrey were spectators at their very first St. Louis Cardinals baseball game, a dream realized when Jeffrey’s grandparents surprised him with the tickets on his birthday, Daniel was even more excited than Jeffrey and immediately made plans for the big event.

Quietly, Daniel lay all of Jeffrey’s clothes out for the next day, before leaving his room and preparing for his own day to come, packing lunches, paying bills, making sure there was nothing left undone before embarking on their journey.

“Batter, batter,” chanted by the fans, they expected Albert Pujols to hit a homer each time he stood, ready to give it his all, having watched him play, religiously, Daniel enlisted his sidekick, Jeffrey, as part of the fan base of their home.

Falling into a deep sleep, partly from exhaustion and partly from having it all to do, Daniel drifted into a dream state, deeper than he had known in a long time, perhaps since she was by his side, before, well, before, she drifted off and didn’t wake up; Daniel dreamed that he was sitting at Busch Stadium, Tiffany by his side and Jeffrey on her lap, watching the pre-game activities, he looked in her eyes and grinned, bouncing Jeffrey on her knee, Tiffany smiled back, winking and then looked at their son as he babbled in baby talk, having a gleeful time.

Waking from his sleep, Daniel wiped the tears from his eyes, then got up to check on Jeffrey, who was still soundly sleeping; Placing his hand on his son’s warm head, he said a prayer and went back to bed, thinking about that wink and how someday he would find her again by his side.

…..

There you have it, the Six Sentence Story, thanks to the devotion of Denise as she provides the weekly prompt and makes sure we have a place to share our stories. Thanks so much to her. If you wish to participate, go to this LINK

Rules of the hop:
Write 6 Sentences. No more. No less.
Use the current week’s prompt word.
Come back here on Thursday, link your post…
Spread the word and put in a good one to your fellow writers 🙂

PROMPT WORD:  CARDINAL