Standing at the aged and tarnished turnstile, a cacophony of subway sounds bouncing off the underground walls, I wondered if I was making the right decision, hesitating like a drag racer in burn down. Seized with doubt, my surroundings seemed to disappear as fear quickly, efficiently, quarantined courage, a certain and unwilling hostage. What was I thinking – or was I simply acting in the moment of the moment, instinctively, body taking over where mind went silent? All the physical evidence, and there was a lot of very convincing evidence, pointed to me as the perpetrator. I knew it was a frame, but who would believe me? I pushed through the metal arm and ran for the train.
Hey everyone, welcome to GirlieOnTheEdge. As I began typing, the sun broke through just a little bit more. Step aside dark sky… Began, as in finish later. I’m beginning to insure the first thankful I list is, well, the most important one…Yesterday, my niece’s 2 boys had a soccer and baseball game, respectively. Older one, soccer. (“You coming to my game tomorrow, Aunt Denise?” I was asked Friday night. “Yes“, I replied). Except! the younger one’s baseball game was scheduled at the same time. 10:00 am. Damn. Went to 14 year old’s soccer game. Ended in a tie. “J” scored the only goal. Yay! Now it’s on to 9 year old’s baseball game, stat! Arrived for the last 10 or 15 minutes of his game. There was my little scott, on the pitcher’s mound. I was standing along side their dugout, excellent view of the field, pitcher’s mound in particular. I wasn’t there 5 minutes when “B”‘s dad, who’s the coach, called over to him to give him some pointers. “B” turned to look at his dad, then he spotted me. And smiled. Eyes infected with a close lipped smile so wide it made my heart ache. Perfect. His dad turned around and asked me, “Did he see you?” “Yup” was my answer. He saw me. And absolutely made my day 🙂 Tell me how that can not be TToT #1.
TToT YouTube. I began this morning looking for a particular song. Autoplay was on. Viewing history be damned! How in the world did they know? Wicked Game?? I couldn’t have programmed a better playlist.
TToT Nightwalking. The spelling? My homage to Nightswimming. The song that began my YouTube search this a.m. 🙂
TToT #4, #5, #6 – the whys for TToT #3…
(what are they talking about?…)
TToT Bread and butter. Simultaneously, a hypo-grat lol
TToT The sound of the wind howling.
TToT Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty”.
TToT Today. This glorious sunny, windy fall day. It can’t get better than this very moment..
Welcome to GirlieOnTheEdge. While my intention was to publish a Six Sentence Story this morning, Ten Things of Thankfulstarted obnoxiously banging on the door after only my second cup of go-go juice. The nerve! Fine.….
TToT Old things..
TToT Like laptops…
TToT That are old friends…
TToT Reminders appearing in unexpected places…
TToT Energy available if there is will enough to grab…
TToT The moment and the opportunity, seen and as yet unseen…
TToT Vehicles for expression and catharsis….
TToT Ability to share and be shared….
TToT Tools for living and coping, tools for growth
Hey. Was clearing out my phone and ran across a picture of myself from November 2015. It was a Friday, day after Thanksgiving. What in the world was I thinking? In this day and age of selfies (thank goodness it appears to have died down…right??), does anyone stop to reflect on why. Why the obsession with pictures of oneself. As a clark, I’ve avoided having pictures taken of myself. In recent years, especially these last few with the increasing quality of the phone camera, it seems I too got caught up in the selfie, videos. Posterity? Was I concerned I’d forget who I was at the time? Was I fearful I’d already lost who I was to circumstance and challenge? Was I trying to capture, in the flash of a picture, a little of who I truly was/am/might become? Thank you for this self indulgence. This morning has been spent inside my head thinking of all sorts of things. Thinking. Thinking about doing. But not doing. Except for this. This post is a “doing” this weekend, engaging in the hop known as Ten Things of Thankful. The successor curator of this blog hop is the wonderful Josie Two Shoes. She is so-o- on top of providing every means and access for those of us of a mind, to share in our thoughts of thankful/grateful/hypo-thankful each and every week. #1 spot? Here’s to you Josie. Thank you. So’s on with this list. I will forewarn you – seems I’m rambling a bit today so word count may be in the millions hundreds 🙂
…2 I was standing at the printer the other day at work, it is on a table against an east facing wall. In fact, the entire east wall of the large auditors area is window. I looked out and down from the second floor and noticed a woman standing at the bus stop across the street. Thing is, I’d noticed her standing waiting for at least 20 minutes. She may have been waiting for the George Mason University shuttle bus. GMU is down the street less than 1/2 mile from my office. It hit me, while not opposed to public transportation, in fact I enjoy taking the metro, enjoy riding a train at times, I was extremely thankful to own a reliable car. Very thankful for being able to get in trusty blue anytime I want/need.
…3 This is where I slip in a hypo-grat. Was up and down all night long with horrendous cramps in my shins, feet, both legs below the knees. I was exhausted this morning. The thing is, I’m extremely thankful that I’m able to get up and out of bed every 45 minutes or so to try and walk out the pain, bring my pretzelized legs back to some kind of human shape. It means I can walk, am mobile, have the ability to walk, run, dance.
…4 I’m thankful for everyone who participates in Six Sentence Stories each week. Historians will tell you that the hop began as the brainchild of none other than Josie who then turned over the reins to, missing in 6 action, zoe, or ivywalker if you prefer, of Uncharted infamy. Yo! zoe -ee! Where ya be girl?? 😀 who in turn passed the hop baton to moi. Thank you!
…5 Wisdom I’m able to have access to by virtue of my participation in this virtual world. A few sources of this wisdom? Mimi, Pat, Kristi. The other ones? You guys know who you are. I know you do. Hey! Combo-thanks – I’m thankful to be part of this world because everyone I’ve come into contact has been beneficial to me in some way. Huge thanks.
…6Geese. Sounds of summer. Breezes on a hot day. Coffee in the am.
…7 Public radio.
…8 The Ramones.
…9 Music, film, art, literature and the internet that can bring them to me with the click of a mouse.
10… this overcast, looks like rain, I’ve got to go to a nephew’s soccer game in an hour (probably in the rain) then his brother’s birthday party at 4, day. I woke up to opportunity and challenge and wonder. Is there anything better than that?
In those immortal 4 words….”hey ho, let’s go!” Not taking no for an answer. I enjoy writing (mostly) and I’m not going another week without joining in the fun. I know you all can relate to sitting in front of a blank screen until you realize, the longer you sit there, the screen is simply reflecting what’s in your head. Scare-ree. I’ve gone the last 2 weeks without posting a SSS and I’m simply not going to let it go to 3, so here go’s nothing. (hey. that would have been a cool joke, huh? nothing, empty space for the 6. yeah, yeah, so that’s a little weird. blame it on the heat! that’s right. 92 degrees today. yowza.)
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
She screamed, in a tone we all knew intimately, not frantic, not angry but….sprinkled, you might say, with a dash of desperation…
“Can I please get a volunteer!!! All I need is a single volunteer to stand in for a short story. What do you say??!”
No one moved, statues all, no one responded, absolutely no one presented themselves forefront and center to offer their services and absolutely everyone, for some odd reason, was staring at me, Lyndon Landever, 8 year old from Cornwall, Connecticut, who pretty much keeps to himself and who for sure hasn’t had much experience out there, in fact, I haven’t had any.
So why they thought me so special I can’t tell you, well, except maybe… maybe it’s because about 2 weeks ago, after school, I discovered a portal to another dimension on the east end of West Cornwall Covered Bridge, but in my mind, that doesn’t make me any more qualified than any of the other guys, to be her volunteer today…. so it’s kinda looking like she’s out of luck again!
Good morning everyone and welcome to my humble abode, GirlieOnTheEdge. Seems I don’t quite have a handle on the time thing yet. Thankfully, both the Six Sentence Stories and Ten Things of Thankful blog hops allow for those who oversleep and such. Thank you and thank you Josie! she who is on vacation at….the beach.
Jealous I am of Ms. Two Shoes as the beach is like the air to me. I’ve been suffocating a long time but luckily I have some tanks filled with other, substitute like things, that keep me going 🙂 So, in no particular order of happening or priority, forward ho!
TToT I am most thankful that I am not bedridden. I am thankful that I have acknowledged the wake up call and confident I will act upon it. As a clark, all things are of the future. Oh, we mean well and all and we can be quite spontaneous and in the moment but….there is a tendency to indulge a tad too much in the concept of our own mortality. See, being forever young, we often forget that there is an end date. An end date unknown. That unknown date must be remembered.
TToT You ask about the bedridden? Friday, as I was putting on my jeans (thank goodness it was casual Friday at the office), the spring located in the lower lumbar region of my back (is there a lower lumbar region? or is it all the lumbar region?) broke, popped, and otherwise put me on my knees. Dammit! I’ll be late to work.
TToT I’m thankful that yesterday was so beautiful. Was booked from morning to early afternoon. Hair appointment, lunch with a friend and former co-worker.
TToT Speaking of hair. I’m pretty fortunate my hair stylist is a clark. Sometimes she’s chatty, sometimes I am and sometimes we’re both pretty quiet. Yesterday? Yesterday, we both had our secondary scottian aspects flailing about the salon. I guess I don’t have to tell you that my hair came out a little…different lol
TToT Small, kind gestures from strangers. The gestures of which I speak occurred in the same location, in 2 consecutive weeks. I buy my fruits and vegetables from a Korean market not far from where I live. Most of the folks who patronize this particular market speak English as a second language or not at all. Korean and Spanish are their first languages. Why is this important? Because it’s a reminder that gestures transcend words, language. (damn, here’s another long assed thankful. did you grab a beverage? good) In both instances, I was standing in front of the apple bins having just taken a plastic bag off the roll so I could fill it with Fuji and Honey Crisp goodness. Well, the bag would not separate at the top! I tried rubbing it between my palms – nothing. I tried and tried, standing semi-patiently but knowing in retrospect my face was telling a different story. Totally oblivious to my surroundings, I looked up to see one of the store workers who had been across the aisle unloading a pallet of bananas, standing in front of me, hand outstretched, a plastic bag open and at the ready. No words except a smile and thank you from me. The following week, same damn thing in the same place only this time? I was well aware of frowning and may even have been muttering to myself lol. A few minutes earlier, I had noticed a couple and their son who I guessed to be about 20 shopping together. They were speaking Spanish. It’s kind of a cramped market, not a lot of room in the aisles so I smiled and squeezed by them to get to the apples. Once again, oblivious to the world around me, focusing solely on getting a stupid plastic bag open so I could load it with said apples, I look up to see the young man. He’d come around from the other side of the bins. He stood there silently, smiling, holding an open plastic bag for me. I returned his smile and thanked him. Kindness. It doesn’t need translation.
TToT That I’ve found a suitable spot to place my laptop to that I may type standing up. You who’ve had the back thing know – it’s either standing, walking or lying flat on the floor, however it takes to feel better. I’m typing tall today, people 😀
TToT While an oft cited thankful, I’m very thankful for the internet, for having a laptop, for having access to so much more of the world than I could ever imagine.
Yo people! It’s me, Girlie. It’s Sunday and I’m going to post a Ten Things of Thankful post. That’s right. I may be showing up days after opening day but hey, Josie leaves the door open for any stragglers who still want to join in. Thank you Josie!
Here’s the funny thing. And, a thankful that will show up on this list today. No wait. Am I getting ahead of myself? How shall I explain? Oh, never mind. Let’s start at the beginning. Feeling a bit long winded today. Perhaps, it is autosuggestion from the howling that is going on outside my window 😀
I used to write “morning words” and they were just that. Each and every day. Somewhere along, oh, months ago, I stopped. The practice turned into more or less a “weekend day, maybe both days words”. The reasons are varied. One of the less consequential (or not) reasons is that the file for those words remains on “the original laptop”. The laptop I often refer to as “lapbaby”. Sure, I can transfer everything over to my new laptop but somehow, I feel that a betrayal. And now, today, more than ever, I will not betray lapbaby by even thinking about transferring that file to the “other place”.
I posted a Six Sentence Story today. The link for that hop is still open and, while it opened last Wednesday night for opening day Thursday, I still posted. Better late than never, yeah? Consider my 1st TToT.
A certain thankful supreme today is the illusion of time. Being lost in…incorrect time. Found out only after the fact. So. Time is first, a concept? Or is that more properly, a construct? What is the advantage of knowing the correct time? In the practical world there are valid, useful reasons for knowing the correct time, the time by which everyone in your timezone adheres. But in the, shall we say magical realm, time is what we believe it is and so all else shall follow. Explanation to follow. Consider my 2nd TToT.
Electronics. Vexing at times. Frustrating. I posit that what at first appears as frustration can reveal itself as gift, given the proper frame of mind. I was able to find the path that led from frustration to gift. Consider my 3rd TToT.
Better grab a beverage or snack for this one. Going to be a long one lol
I am surely thankful for my new laptop. As an individual who historically has difficulty letting go of objects of sentimentality, I did not hesitate turning on lapbaby this morning. As I mentioned in my intro, lapbaby is accessed 1x, maybe 2x a weekend. Functionality has been spotty, hence the new ‘top. Yesterday morning, I noticed that lapbaby was showing the incorrect time. And so I made the adjustment. I thought it odd, but hey, no biggie. This morning, as I wrote morning words, I happened to notice that the date was incorrect. It was still showing yesterday’s date. I tried to make the adjustment. I was convinced I was completing the proper steps and yet it kept giving me an error message. I switched to fixing the time. Kinda the same thing. Aha! I told myself that I was being distracted unnecessarily and that it wasn’t important to fix these things right this very moment. I proceeded with the morning. Consider this my 4th TToT.
As I went about my morning, I would glance at the time and see that I must be working quicker than I thought as it was still early. I even prepared breakfast, the one I used to eat during the weekdays once upon a time. It was good. It was healthy. The sun was shining and I thought, alright…I’m going to the gym next! Consider that my 5th TToT (at that moment)
When oatmeal delight was finished, and I’d replied to a couple of texts, I decided to check the time and see how I was doing. Lots to do today and only so many hours in which to do it. Sure. Maybe there’s as much time as we need but for our own self-limitation. But no! I looked down at lapbaby and the time was showing….barely after 8. Damn. I’m cruising today. And I believed that. Consider my TToT #6.
I had decided yesterday, that beside posting a 6, I would also post at Josie’s TToT. I mean. Why not? I seemed to have gotten on a tiny roll-ette this morning so no use stemming that tide. But first, I thought I’d get ready to go to the gym (my next destination) and then before heading out see if I actually had a TToT in me. I gathered my stuff, glanced at the clock on the wall and….you saw this coming right ‘cuz I sure didn’t lol. I looked at the clock and instead of still being a little after 8:00 it was 10:10! I had forgotten that lapbaby’s time had been incorrect and that I had decided not to bother trying to fix it lest I get distracted away from my task, my enjoyment of writing this morning. Consider this TToT #7.
Like a hockey puck slamming into the side of my face, I reeled at the notion that I was happy in the illusion of time that didn’t exist, as I was able to proceed through it, enjoy what I was doing and not stress that I wouldn’t have enough of it. Time that is. What a gift I was given today. Consider TToT #8.
I usually state this in the number 10 spot but today, let’s switch it up a bit. Consider my #9. I am grateful, I am thankful to wake up today. Why not? The sun returned, there is howling outside my window. I managed to write some words. I got lost in the morning and hey! wouldja look at that. It’s still only 8:20 am 🙂
Consider last, but never least, my TToT #10. The opportunity to venture out into the day regardless of the time, actual or otherwise. To engage, participate, share and be present.
