Writing Reality

And just like that he'd passed. It's always those moments, you'd wondered how would it feel after someone you'd met once, yet held in high regard passes. Held in high regard not always for their leadership in office, yet their earnest drive to better humanity. I'd hoped he'd been able to vote in the 2024 election. I prayed for him to have the ability to vote in the 2024 election. I prayed in earnest. His living weighed heavy on my mind. Yes, I understood how important his ability to vote was important to not only himself but somehow to the country. It was his final public statement. And it mattered. In 2015, just months before I'd met him he was diagnosed with cancer. That day when I saw him move, it was as if the years he'd accumulated had fallen away as his stride with a pep in his step showing no sign of aging nor stopping. That same day my husband had marveled at Mr. Carter's movement with ease.  President Carter's books helped give me some g...

From "Picking Grapes", a Memoir Yes I picked grapes for nearly ten hours at age eight with my dad at a wealthy homeowner's property. They seemed kind. They had an English Sheepdog. We weren't picking the grapes for the homeowners. We were picking them so my dad and one our neighbors who'd just purchased a liquor license together could make their own wine. I can say at the time as well many years later I hadn't known anyone to pick fruit or any other gardened product till about 30 years later when I met the Grandfather of UltraRunning, Ted Corbitt. Ted and I chatted for over two hours in his Manhattan 9th floor apartment. He told me that he'd been born on a cotton farm in South Carolina.  Ted, a brilliant, kind soul told me he'd picked cotton for the first time when he was about age ten. He said his mom could out-pick anyone in picking cotton. Well over 100lbs of cotton in an hour with regularity. Although I hadn't known much of picking cotton on t...

Especially the ones that have helium in them. Balloons for some reason seem to be a sign of happiness. I remember as a child when our family would go to the annual Fireman’s Picnic near Labor Day weekend. It was an annual event put on by the volunteer fire department my dad belonged to. I can’t remember what I loved the most about it. Yet, I could say the helium balloons were in the top three items at that celebration of sorts for me. The hamburgers were a gift from God. Not the kind of food I saw regularly, because it was once a year. I can’t recall any other time I’d eaten a hamburger at home. We could afford chicken. We’d eaten squirrel, which had actually been shot by one of my dad’s friends when firing of what I believe was a BeeBee gun. And venison was had when one of my dad’s friends hit a deer with his late 1960’s early 1970’s suburban vehicle in Maine, totaling it of course. Too, for a few summers we’d received massive amounts of blue fish for free. It’s still my favorite food...

Yes, many of US people voted. Yet too many got their news from perhaps communist platforms like TikTok; which is made by a communist government and believed by what has been presented without further fact-checking of the information presented on those platforms. As well, American adults do not read enough non-fiction material in books, various articles, and from various sources. Laziness has now become prevalent and the deciding factor of greed. Americans used to say, “How can I do better? How can I be kinder? What can I do for democracy?”  Now, instead, the worm has turned, and it is, “Only I deserve wealth. Only I deserve to have enjoyment. Only I know better. I want things that benefit me.” Isolationism is rife with ignorance. We’ve become more provincial. Already having preconceived notions of what someone is capable of or not capable of. Many have made up their minds to propagate their ignorance then to spread their diseased ideologies and vote ill-informed. I had this debate ...

"What happened to your hand, Private?" I asked a young Marine.  "I punched my screen door." He answered. It was early summer 1982. "And why did you?" "My wife spoke to a man."  "So, what'd yah think?" "I thought she was cheating on me." "How do you know." "I got jealous." "Well, that's not smart. Let's talk." At this point I was an E3 and he was an E1 in the Marines. I liked the kid. He was a good Marine. Yet, he was not all that bright, I knew so.  Our youngest daughter still asks me how I know if someone is not so bright. I've told her, "Sometimes it's experience, sometimes its a feeling and other times; as Dad would put it, 'it's in their eyes.'" She shook her head trying to wrap her mind around my assessment. "That makes no sense." She'd stated. "It just is." I'd remarked. That day back in 1982, decades before becoming a pa...

Many years ago, my mother-in-law who knew how to make a good roast, a delicious salmon loaf, a spinach loaf, and a few other traditional 1950’s Better Homes and Gardens type recipes. I think she swore by it. One of the gifts I’d received from her was a new,1957 Better Homes and Gardens complete cookbook. You know, the three ring binder so you could possibly add your own notebook paper recipes? I have to say I’ve used this cookbook quite a bit over the past nearly forty years. It’s been a priceless asset to me in our home. My mother-in-law seemed to always feel that she could never accomplish the type of cooking and baking I had. I felt she could, and I’d told her so more than thirty years ago. I told her that it was just application and some creativity. She was a creative person, she just couldn’t see it in herself. There was a time when I’d asked her permission to throw my husband a thirtieth birthday party just for the family at her house.  Maybe her sister and brother-in-law who...

  As I stood in line for early voting yesterday, a woman about my age was ahead of me. There were about 28 people in line ahead of me. I'd gotten there 30 minutes prior to the doors opening for the first day of early in-person voting. I found out that it was her first time doing early in-person voting, as was mine. We began to talk. We were both amazed at the crowds that gathered in line behind us, with still 20 minutes to go before the doors opened.  She and I had a few things in common. Being of similar age, having two adult children and never wanting to retire. She was a marketing agent for a large Physical Therapy corporation. As normal, especially at such a dicey time as this, I was prudent with my conversation. Then I heard her say, "I'm scared." I remarked, "Join the club. Alot of us are. I'm praying and voting." She nodded, "Yep." We agreed this wasn't normal. Yet, we were grateful for the availability of early in-person voting.  We...