One of my favs

Remember me?!

It's been a while, but I'm still here.

This week, Mama Kat has some good writing prompts. I chose prompt #5: List ten favorite things about one of your favorite people.

See if you can guess which favorite person I am writing to.

#1. You are the first person to notice when I'm having a bad day and do your best to make me happier.

#2. You are a role model for your peers in many, many ways.

#3. Your heart is true, full of compassion especially for people less fortunate than us.

#4. You do everything with 100% of yourself.

#5. You have eye lashes longer than anyone I've ever seen.

#6. You are so stinkin' smart!

#7. You are always honest.

#8. You took your baptism very seriously and truly understood the importance of it.

#9. You are the kind of friend everyone wants to have.

#10. You never give up.

Have you figured it out yet?

It's my 10 year old son, Lucas.

Love you, Bud!

The fall

I'm not going to lie.

It wasn't pretty. Honestly, it was down right ugly.

Last year she fell down the stairs.

Hard.

www.sodahead.com

Debbie was at work when she slipped. And as usual she was multitasking; talking on her cell phone, carrying an armful of files, and trying to find her keys in her purse.

The poor woman really doesn't know how it happened. But before she knew it, Debbie was face up looking at a blizzard of papers flying around the room.

"Holy crap! Did anyone see that? Can they see my underwear?" were her first thoughts.

And her shoulder hurt. "How the heck did I hurt my shoulder? Sheesh!"

As she made her way back to her feet, the last of the papers finally landed.

Debbie scanned the area. She was looking for her phone and praying nobody was nearby to witness her nasty faux pas.

But she wasn't that lucky. A man was coming her way and obviously knew what just happened.

Debbie quickly avoided eye contact, still visually searching for her phone.

"Are you okay?" asked the man as he picked up & handed over her iPhone.

She had to suck it up & look him in the eyes at that point. She was mortified. Humiliated. Completely embarrassed.

But the man was a real gentleman and helped her gather everything together. As they did so, they chatted to fill the awkward silence, and Debbie learned his name was John.

Within a few minutes the chit-chat turned to giggles. Debbie had to laugh at herself. And after John knew that she was fine, he couldn't help but laugh too.

The two were there for quite some time. And once Debbie had all of her things, John walked her to her car. They stood there talking until Debbie had to go. But before John let her drive away, he asked for her phone number.

So you see, had it not been for that brutal fall, Debbie & John would never have met.

:: That was the story of how John & Debbie met. That story was also the Maid of Honor speech I gave at Debbie & John's wedding last night.

This week's assignment is to write a short piece, either fiction or non-fiction, about something ugly - and find the beauty in it.

Is she you?

I am really excited about today's post!

Today's red writing hood post should be no more than 600 words and should take no longer than 3 minutes to read aloud. And a character MUST tell a joke and a character MUST cry. One character can do both.

She loved being a stay at home mom to her 3 kids.

The kids never had to worry about who was getting them from place to place; it was always her. She was the one person the kids could always count on to meet their needs.

They usually had a good time.

All 4 of them agreed that one thing was not fun - shopping.

But it had to be done as a group during summer break.

Half way through the trip to the grocery store everyone was still behaving. Whew!

She heard Megan ask her brothers What did the tree name her baby? Jake shrugged his shoulders and said in his cute 4 year old voice I don't know.

Woody! Megan blurted out.

Jake thought that was pretty cool since Toy Story 3 was his favorite movie.

As they giggled, their mother smiled and thought Okay just 3 more things and we'll be out of here with no melt downs or drama.

The few items remaining on the list were in the produce section. She just wanted to grab some grapes, potatoes, and lettuce.

Yes! It's always so nice when the kids behave in the store. Maybe I'll let them pick out a little something in the checkout line. Wow my life has changed since staying home with these guys. Who would've thought a trip to the store could make or break my da-

Her train of thought was broken by the thud of something or somethings hitting the ground.

Marcus (the 10 year old) was scolding Jake for touching the apples. Megan chimed in saying Oh my gosh, Jake! Why did you do that?!

Jake's face said it all with the big bottom lip and the huge crocodile tears. He knew this was bad.

He managed to whisper I justed wanted some apples.

She took a deep breath and tried not to worry about everyone staring at them. Well, we have to buy these now, she said while scooping the busted apples up into a produce bag.

The older two kids kept scolding, which wasn't helpful. She tried to keep cool while she gave them 'the look.'

She got down to Jake's level. This is why we don't touch things in the store, right Jake?

He was beyond embarrassed & buried his wet face in her neck. She heaved him up and ordered Marcus & Megan to grab the grapes & lettuce. The potatoes could wait.

They moved as quickly as possible to the checkout line.

*Heavy sigh* So much for a drama-free shopping trip.

........................................................................

After taking part in the #trdc Twitter party Wednesday evening, I was all kinds of inspired to write this post. Thanks girls!

Word count: 511

Feel free to critique if you want to. I have never done any 'writing' before The Red Dress Club, so be gentle. =)

...the rest of the story

Starting from where we left off last week...*

"What?" is all I could say.

I felt dizzy, like the world was collapsing in on me.

Janet apologized for just blurting it out like that, but she didn't know how else to say it.

"So, how long have you known, um.., that I was your daughter?" Those words sounded so strange as they came out of my mouth, like someone else was speaking from within me.

How was I asking my best friend this question?

Janet explained that she had always known. It was an open adoption until I turned 3. Then there was no more direct contact between us, but she continued to keep track of my whereabouts & achievements thanks to newspaper articles and the internet.

For the first 3 years of my life, I had monthly visits with Janet. She told me that the 1st Sunday of every month was her favorite day of the month. It was a time for her to see that she had indeed made the right decision. And she cherished the photos of those visits. They were among her most precious possessions, keeping them in a locked safe in her bedroom closet.

Janet was only 17 years old and still in high school when I was born. Her boyfriend got scared and left when he found out she was pregnant. Thank God her parents were incredibly supportive of her choice.

All of that information was getting to be too much for me.

I needed some air. And time to process everything.

I was an huge mess of emotions.

I didn't want to hurt her feelings, but I just couldn't understand why Janet chose that evening to reveal the secret.

So when she joined me a few minutes later, I came right out and asked her.

Janet apologized again and said she hadn't planned on doing it that night. She told me that she was so proud of my hard work, that she just couldn't keep it a secret any longer.

Ironically all I could think was: I want my mom!

But Janet was my best friend, and she was the only other person I would honestly confide in.

As I stood there watching Janet I soon smiled & couldn't stop smiling. I became excited; joyful; relieved. This was really happening!

After many hugs & tears, I told her that I would love to see those pictures.

Even though I'd done it hundreds of times before, it felt strange entering Janet's house that night. I looked at things from a completely different perspective now.

But it was good.

I sat on Janet's bed as she found the pictures in her safe. She sat down next to me and shared the stories that went along with every picture.

She told me to take some of them home with me. Then Janet returned the rest of them to her safe. As she started to close the door, she spotted something in the back. She didn't recognize it until she took it out.

She wondered how she forgot it was back there.

When she joined me back on the bed, I saw the tiny little pink sleeper in her hands. I looked up at her & she had tears in her eyes.

It was the sleeper she gave my parents when I was born. It was the outfit I wore home from the hospital.

After a long hug, Janet told me that she wasn't letting me have it! And we shared a big, stress relieving belly laugh.

As strange as it was initially, knowing that Janet was my biological mother ended up being a wonderful thing. I had the best of both worlds in Janet. My biological mother was my best friend. Not many birth mother reunions turn out as perfect as this one.

*This is a completely fictional story.

Write a piece - 600 word limit - about finding a forgotten item of clothing in the back of a drawer or closet. Let us know how the item was found, what it is, and why it's so meaningful to you or your character.

Oops! Word count: 688.

I struggle with switching tenses a lot.

Any tips? Thanks ladies.

Pass the what?

"You heard me. Pass the fruit pectin," the old man said to the teenage boy on the public bus.

The boy looked around, making sure the old man was talking to him. But instead of seeing people riding the bus, he saw giant strawberries sitting in the seats which didn't seem strange to him.

When the boy looked back, the old man was gone. The bus hadn't made any stops. He had just disappeared.

The next thing the teenager knew, he was singing Pour Some Sugar On Me - a song that was popular before he was even born - while cooking. He was adding citric acid to corn syrup in his grandmother's house. But not her current house. The house she lived in when he was a toddler.

As he did this, his 3rd grade teacher walked through the kitchen and said, "Oh sweeite. Be careful, you know how bad that high fructose corn syrup is for you, right?"

All of this seemed completely natural to him.

Until he woke up.

What's in your pantry? For this week's prompt, grab something out of your pantry and write a short piece - using all the words in the ingredients. It can be fiction or non-fiction, poetry or prose. My item was Smucker's Strawberry Jam.

Cuz it sounded like fun

When I read this prompt, I knew it would be fun!

Here it is...

"Your assignment is to write a short piece - fiction, non-fiction, poetry, whatevs - in which each sentence starts with a the next letter of the alphabet. Starting with "A." So, yes, your finished product will consist of 26 sentences."

Another day started out with big grey clouds & strong, steady snow. "Blah!" thought Erin. "Can we just have 1 day without snow?"

Don't get her started about the weather. Ever since she moved to Chicago she's had a hard time adjusting to it. For as long as she can remember she has hated the cold. Go figure she'd end up in a city with brutal winters.

How did a country girl from Texas end up in Chicago? It had to be fate, because she always thought she'd live where it was warm.

Jake had proposed a year ago, and the wedding was only a few weeks away. Keeping up with everything had become stressful for Erin. Leaving her family & friends to move to Chicago was hard. Making the long trip back to Texas for the wedding was what kept her focussed. Nobody ever doubted that the wedding would take place in her hometown.

On her way to work, Erin couldn't help but be distracted with her thoughts of the wedding. Particularly thinking about the reception. Quaint wasn't her style. Rowdy, fun, & lots of dancing was what she wanted.

Soon her last day of work was over, and she & Jake made their way to Texas. This day seemed so far away last year! Upon landing, Erin was greeted my her sister, mother, and father.

Various groups of friends showed up for the big event. When it was time for the dance, everyone knew it would be a great time. Xerox copies of pictures would be made for sure! YouTube videos from the wedding will probably be seen around the world! Zimbabwe too!

Whew! I did it! It got kind of tricky there at the end, but I think it worked. I can't wait to read everyone else's post.

Fiction?

As they finished their dinner at the restaurant, Paige and Owen decided to go back to his place. They had spent the larger part of the day together and didn't want it to end even though it was the coldest day of the season. Paige looked through the foggy cab window as the snow quickly covered the ground. She was amazed at how fast the landscape had changed over the past hour.

Once at his apartment, Owen prepared hot chocolate for both of them. As he handed Paige her frothy mug their fingers brushed each other's. "My goodness! Your hand are just like ice," he said. "I'll hold your hands."

This made Paige blush, and she pulled back while taking a sip. "Say, what's in this drink?" she asked, changing the subject.

Owen just smiled and said, "I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell."

"I really can't stay," she said. But down deep she wanted to. "You know how crazy my family gets when I am late. My mom worries, my dad paces, my sister gets suspicious, and my brother! Well, you know he'll be waiting at the door."

"Oh, come on. It's freezing out there." Owen pleaded.

Paige countered with, "You know how gossipy your neighbor is. Everyone will be talking about us tomorrow. I need to go now."

"Okay, but good luck getting a cab in this weather. I've never seen it like this before," Owen scuffed.

"Well, maybe just a cigarette more," Paige conceded.

Owen couldn't help but watch her lips. They looked delicious, and he was tempted to lean over and kiss right then and there. He thought to himself, "How can you do this to me? I'm going nuts here!"

Then as Paige finished her cigarette, she asked Owen if he would lend her a coat. "Was she for real?" he thought. "Think of my lifelong sorrow if you got pneumonia and died," he said to Paige.

"Don't be silly, Sweetie." she said as she took the telephone and called a cab. They both knew she had to leave.

Once her cab arrived, Paige hugged Owen good-bye. And as she she turned to leave, Owen said to her, "Baby it's cold outside!"

That was my 1st time submitting a post to the Red Dress Club.

The red dress club's writing prompt this week was:

Write a piece (fiction or non-fiction) inspired by a song. It can be any song of your choosing. If it is not clear from your story what the song is, throw us a bone and put a note at top or bottom of your post to let us know what you picked."

Baby It's Cold Outside was my inspiration for this lovely story.

If you've never seen the movie Elf I'll wait while you go watch it. It's one of my favorites! Here's the scene with the song that inspired my story. Or you can watch/listen to other versions on You Tube.