Tag: Daily Prompt

Daily Prompt:  Brassy

 

Before when I was little
I used to play outside.
My friends and I would lay in grass
Looking for objects in the sky.
We’d see castles with towers
And animals romping free
Then dream of our futures
And what they might be.

My future is now my present
And not quite what I’d dreamed.
It’s better than I had imagined
Filled with joy and family.
We gather often to celebrate
Our accomplishments every one.
The noise, quite deafening
Sounds brassy to us all.

Daily Prompt:  Portion

When we are born into a family, we have no say in who that family is. We depend on this family for all of our needs. As we grow, we develop a relationship with our family and they lovingly teach us everything we need to know about our life.

Soon we learn how to interact with our bigger family. Our cousins, playmates and neighbors. Without realizing it, we are having our personalities shaped by our evolving environment. We learn to make the right choices about who and what we want and like.

Then we begin our formal education. Going to school introduces us to many new influences. Our teachers and classmates all make an impression on us. Sometimes that impression is not acceptable to how our family has raised us. When we share that impression with our parents, they lovingly discipline us.

After learning all of the lessons we have been taught growing up, we are in a position to make decisions on how we wish to spend our lives. What career to choose, who we marry and where we will live. We carve out our portion of life with the knowledge that our family loves and supports us and so we can achieve anything.   This, of course, is the ideal situation.

I realize that we are all not this fortunate. My early family life left a lot to be desired. My grandmother came into the picture and worked hard to give me the love and support I needed to grow into the woman I am today. I do have memories from when I lived with my mother who was not capable of taking care of children due to her issues, but I choose not to permit them to do any more damage to my life. I think that what I can recommend to anyone who has not had the ideal start in life is to not let those circumstances make you bitter and cynical as an adult. Fight to break the chain of unhappiness and reach for happiness and love. It’s not easy, but it’s so worth the struggle.

Wanda

Daily Prompt:  Trace

Several years ago my youngest daughter gave me a genealogy program for Christmas. It was her plan that we would work on our family tree together. I started fooling around with the program myself and immediately got hooked on tracing my ancestors. Unfortunately, my daughter wound up not working on it with me. She had just graduated from college and was getting settled in her career.

After a few years I found that the program she had given me was outdated. It was then that I transferred all of the research I had done to Ancestry. After my daughter married she and her husband joined me in working on our heritage.

There isn’t much more that excites me than tracing my ancestors across Europe. I have gotten back to the eleventh century in England on my father’s side. I find that so exciting. On my mother’s side, I have hit two brick walls one in Germany the other in Ireland. I dream about traveling to those places one day to find my ancestors there.

If you have never tried to trace your ancestors, I highly recommend it. You might be surprised at who you are related to.

Wanda

Daily Prompt:  Detonate

If you live in the United States you are more than likely celebrating Memorial Day.  Today we remember those who have served our country to preserve our freedom.  It also signifies the beginning of summer.  There are parades, picnics and in Miami Beach this weekend there is an air show.

My son lives in South Beach right on the beach.  He called me yesterday to tell me about the air show going on right along the beach.  While we were on the phone, I heard a loud boom.  It sounded like a bomb had been detonated.   Gary told me that a stealth bomber had just passed by his building and he was standing on his balcony watching the show.

I was sorry I was not there to see those planes in action.  He went on to tell me that there were numerous boats anchored right off shore to watch the show.  I was concerned that my granddaughter, who is only fifteen months old would be frightened by the loud noise. Thankfully she was with her mommy at a birthday party away from the beach.

I really think it would be cool to take a ride in one of those stealth bombers.  It would certainly be the ultimate amusement park ride, don’t you think?

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to those who have served.

Wanda

 

Daily Prompt:  Infuse

Blue skies dappled with fluffy clouds
And the sun infuses warmth into the air.
Children chasing kites with brightly colored tails
On the gentle breeze.
Spring blooms with fragrant scents
Blending into nature’s perfume.
And the days are growing longer
Winter’s reprieve.

Ahh Spring! What splendor.

Wanda

I was driving to Florida yesterday on my way to visit my friend from high school.  Her husband had surgery and I came down to give her a hand so she can return to work.

While driving through South Carolina I picked up a Virginia radio station.  I still am not sure which program was on but it was a talk show.  Apparently there is a new law in Virginia which will make it mandatory for schools to teach teenagers how to handle being pulled over by police while driving.

Let me tell you that the host of the show was beside himself because as he put it “the responsibility of safety from police misconduct will fall on the children.”  What a farce! I really got the impression that he wanted to just stir things up.  In no way was police being trained to deal with teens behind the wheel something that was off the table.  He insinuated that the police were the trained professionals but that in only 6 months you could become a cop and he felt that was insufficient.  I wonder what he thinks about becoming parents.  There is no training for that.  Maybe that’s where we should start.

In most incidents with teenagers driving and being pulled over there is zero respect shown to the officer.  Now I am not saying that there aren’t a portion of bad police, just as there is a portion of teens that are respectful.  But, have you noticed the complete lack of respect for authority in this country today?  Just walking through the mall and hearing the way children talk to not only their parents, but to each other.  It’s appalling.

The co-host of the show said that the person who was responsible for initiating the law said she did so because she had had many conversations with her husband and son regarding being stopped by the police and their son’s  behavior expected by them if that should happen.  The son stated that many of his friends parents didn’t have any conversations with them about being respectful.  In an attempt to keep teens from being injured or worse she thought that while learning to drive in school this would be a beneficial endeavor for the safety not only for the children but also the police.

I was becoming furious as I was driving 70 miles an hour down 95.  I finally had to turn it off.  All the host did was belittle the idea of giving the kids a perspective on traffic stops.  Of course when I tried to call into the station I couldn’t get through.  It’s probably a good thing.  My feel is that if parents were responsible and taught their kids respect from the time they were little, there probably wouldn’t be many episodes of teens being manhandled by police.

For too long parents have undermined the authority of the police and the teachers in the schools.  I wanted to ask this man if a person is any less dead if the one pulling the trigger is a kid?  Our culture has turned into one of irresponsibility where anything goes and you can do whatever you want no matter how it affects anyone else.  Then authority is blamed for the consequences.

OK, I am off my soapbox.  It is wonderful to be here with Dottie and Frank.  I think I’ll go sit by the pool for a bit and cool off.

Wanda