Happy Birthday All June Babies!

I have been drawing birthday cakes for family and close friends for their birthdays. If you’ve had a birthday this month and you weren’t mentioned, and feel a little sad about that, then consider this yours!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVERYONE!

Courage

Dear Mom,

I had a 40^th grade school reunion about a week ago. A few traveled from out of state: all the way from California and two from Texas. Several drove hours from Illinois and the outskirts of Missouri. It was nice that those who came made the effort.

I personally was impressed with one classmate. One who was bullied—it wasn’t called that back then, but that’s what it was… I feel shame for not being brave enough to have put an end to it. Or for not truly being her friend. I was kind of dumb.

I think about my own kids and how they were brave enough to help the underdog. I thank God that I at least taught them better. I found out years later that my own baby had been picked on in high school… she never told me then. But talk about a heart breaker.

I’m not a poet, so my critique friends gave me a few tips. Thank you.

This poem could be for my daughter too, but I wrote it for my classmate.

Courage

I could never be that brave.

Day after day after day

teased, tormented,

Ugly words slapping her face.

Nearly everyone participated

in some shape or form.

I don’t know how

she held her head high.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones,

but words will never hurt me.”

They hurt me just watching.

I wasn’t brave.

I didn’t stand up and

say, “Stop it. Leave her alone.”

Darkness settled near me, I feared I’d be next.

No, I wasn’t brave.

I wondered when she got home

from school whether she dreamed

of a better life. Did she write in her diary

who she hated, anger filling page after page?

Or were the pages soaked

from tears spilling out, endlessly?

Because sticks and stones…

words do hurt.

There are choices

wallow in self-pity, or pick up

all the pieces and put yourself back together again.

Make a difference in the world.

To be so brave.

I’ve always admired

and will always admire

her beauty, her strength

her courage.

With love,

Lynn

Floating on the Meramec River

Dear Mom,

I’m not sure whose brainy brilliant idea it was to do a float trip, but my friends somehow bribed convinced me to go. I hadn’t been on a float trip in over 15 years when I went with my brother, his son, and my three kids… when my daughter and I got knocked off the raft by a branch. Unexpectedly. We nearly drowned. Prior to that, as a teenager, I floated. The couple we were with argued. He took his oar and threw it at her back. Oh, and I forgot, my two sisters and brother and I went on a float trip for one of our annual “SiblingDays.” Mid-August and it was so cold our fingers were blue and our lips purple. After we got out of the raft and waited for our pick-up, we started a fire so we wouldn’t freeze to death.

Umm, yeah, floating brings up such fond memories… I couldn’t wait.

But always giving people the benefit of the doubt, I give my experiences that same courtesy.

Mom, I told you earlier how boats and water are not my thing. This summer I’ve had the excruciating pain pleasure to experience it four times. I joke about excruciating pain. All the trips this year have nearly changed my outlook on water and boats… as long as they are pontoon boats. You can still have the kind of boat that reaches speeds in excess of 10 miles an hour.

I believe the idea to go floating was Eddie’s. He wanted Susan, my best friend, to experience floating. If anyone knows Susan, you know she’s not outdoorsy. I may not be fond of boats/water, but I’m not a wimp to the outdoors. I told Eddie I’d help paddle the raft since Susan and Cindy (Susan’s other bff) couldn’t. No, not wouldn’t. Couldn’t. Incapable. Oh, I guess if they were shown, and promised they wouldn’t break a nail they might consider it—IF they were the only two in the raft and needed to reach the shore.

I suppose I will confess when we started out, I’m sure Eddie had his doubts about my paddling capabilities when I kept paddling towards the bridge. He kept paddling the opposite way and I worried that he didn't know what he was doing. Exasperated I crabbed asked Eddie, “What are you doing?” He shot me a look. Clearly he was confused. I asked again, “What part of the bridge are you wanting to go through? I'm aiming for the middle. Are you trying to go to the right?”

“Lynn, do you really want to paddle upstream?”

Oh.

Hey, the current was slow people… as in slow as Susan learning how to skip rocks. More about that later.

I swore the guy who dumped the raft in had pointed that way—towards the bridge. Apparently I’m just as directionally challenged in the water as I am on land.

However, I surprised myself being the most obnoxious adventurous one. I paddled like crazy to get the raft to spin in circles. No one else wanted to have fun in that way… “I’m getting dizzy.” Wasn’t that the point? Remember the merry-go-round on the playgrounds? Not the carnival kind. The type you spin your self. They were my favorite. Or when you were a kid and you kept twirling yourself around, you'd fall to the ground, and the world would continue to spin?

Okay, back to the float trip. 

The current flowed like the turtles we spotted… as Cindy so brilliantly observed, “They look like little German soldiers.” They sat stiff on branches half sunken in water. Their little heads jutted out of their armor. Hearing the enemy, they disappeared into the murky water.

A skinny blue heron perched on a limb stood so still that Eddie thought it was a statue. Who does that—puts a statue on a branch at the edge of the Meramec River? Geez Eddie, get out much?

We were trying to keep a look out for our half way point to gage how long we’d need to get us to our destination on time. We all missed it… something about a cliff, but there were cliffs around every turn.

We pulled off to have a little swim. Okay, I swam. Me, the water person. The one who doesn’t know how to swim. The dog paddler. Susan, Cindy and Eddie stood in the water. At 62 degrees, plunging (yes, I plunged) into the water was shocking refreshing... if you’re a penguin. I’m pretty sure I left a few brain cells at home that morning being all Paul-a Bunyan like.

Stomachs growling, we spotted a shady spot to eat our lunch. Susan and Eddie packed enough goodies in the event we became stranded like those on Gilligan’s Island. I think we sang that song as we floated down the river.

Nearing the bridge—our “take out” point—yes, Susan, those are the places where you take out the raft, not where you can order food—we realized we missed the halfway point and we were two hours early. The bridge was now two minutes away, so we pulled off again. Here’s where we taught Susan how to skip rocks.

When Susan threw the rock in the water, like a “girl” (there really is meaning to that saying), I was glad we had two hours because I had hope she’d master it by then. She did, long before the two hours. But picture a lefty, who throws like a girl, skipping a rock. Where’s a camera when you need one.

You all might think I’m being a little mean talking about my bff this way. The thing is, we’ve been friends for over 45 years. She knows I love her and all my “meanness” is in jest. I laughed a lot that day observing her…

At the reservation desk when she asked the clerk, “So where are the bathrooms as you float down the river?”  The message on the face of the clerk: is she for real or is this a joke? I shrugged and rolled my eyes. The clerk looked at Susan with a little smirk smile and said, “Anywhere you want.” Poor Susan, thought she was going to lose those big blue eyes. I could see me chasing her eye balls as they rolled on the floor. At that point I wondered if this float trip was going to be as disastrous fun as all the rest.

I laughed watching Susan inch her way into the shocking cold brisk water, her face scrunched up, arms hugging herself, her high pitched tone, “I hate feeling sand in my shoes.” I mocked her. Then Eddie, who's not always on the ball, commented, “Lynn, you use the same whiney tone no matter who you mimic.”

“It’s the only one I know.” Wasn't it clear that I'm not making millions as a professional comedian doing impressions of people?

Back in the raft. “Oh, I don’t like how my feet feel in wet shoes, it’s gross.” (Who am I?)

Despite my paddling the wrong way on several occasions, (thank you Cindy, as I’d eye her whenever I was confused and she would shake her head yes or no to tell me if I was paddling the correct way… didn’t want to be yelled at by Captain Eddie) and wanting to create a merry-go-round-raft, I, the Skipper, did okay. 

It's been the year of water for me, and I've changed my mind a bit. What about you—is there something you’re not fond of doing, but then you had an experience that changed it? Or what about your own experience with float trips?

More Awards

Dear Mom,

I feel quite blessed as I have been honored again with blog awards.

I'd like to thank Jess at Praise, Prayers, and Observations for The Liebster Blog Award. I met Jess when I was doing the Letter Writing Challenge. We've become pen-pals and have so much in common, you'd think we're twins.

Here are the official rules for Liebster Blog Award:

1. If you are nominated for the award and accept it, then you have won!
2. Thank the person who nominated you by linking back to their blog.
3. Nominate 5 blogs with less than 200 followers.
4. Let the nominees know by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. Add the award image to your site (use an image widget to place at bottom/side of blog).

I'd like to thank Monique at Bends in the Road for The Versatile Blogger Award. I met Monique when I took the April Platform Challenge.  I admire Monique for her courage in moving forward even when dealing with health issues.

Here are the "official rules" for The Versatile Blogger Award:

1. Nominate 15 bloggers for the award.
2. In the same post, add the award; (use an image widget to place at bottom/side of blog).
3. Thank the blogger that nominated you, and give the link back to their blog.
4. Share 7 random things about yourself.
5. Include the rules in the post.
6. Inform every blogger that you nominated, of their nomination by leaving a comment on their blog
7. Inform bloggers to leave their blog information at http://versatilebloggeraward.wordpress.com/vba-winners/

Since I've been awarded before (you can read my first Versatile, second Versatile, third Versatile and the first Liebster awards) it's going to be a challenge to come up with something interesting, but I'll give it a shot.

In my first nomination I used the theme of music, the second I used body parts, the third I followed what the blogger who awarded me the award by what she talked about. So this time, I shall make the theme about food. Here's my seven random things...

1. I consider myself a good cook (thanks to lots of practice) and have two food blogs (Lynn, What's For Dinner? and Lynn, What's For Dessert? but I haven't been blogging on them since I participated in NaNoWriMo... yeah, back in November).
2. I love watermelon. I could eat it all day, every day.  There's a story about watermelon that my mom told me and it's the only one I can remember that she actually told me. All the other stories about her come by way of someone else... at least what I can remember anyway.
3. I'm pretty sure I'm an emotional eater. I eat when I'm happy... when I'm sad... when I'm tired... when I'm full of energy... when I'm bored.... The only time I don't eat is when I'm severely depressed and I'm incredibly grateful for that not being the case in a long time. So, yeah, I like to eat. But I love to cook for people even more.
4. I'm on the search for the perfect malt ball. I'm a malt ball connoisseur. I have my own little test on how to determine if it qualifies as "the perfect malt ball" and so far, I haven't come across one... yet.
5. I'm a fan of things that are chewy.
6. I would love to grow my own vegetables/fruit, but that would mean I'd be feeding the wild animals in my yard even more since they eat all my other plants.
7. I'm the pie maker in my family. Last fall I taught my niece how to make cherry pie, crust and all. I'd probably teach anyone how to cook/bake something if they asked.

Now, I'm changing things a tad as far as how many folks I'll be nominating, and I'm going to give  both the Liebster Award and The Versatile Blogger Award to the same folks... those being the last five peeps who decided to follow my blog. Some have been awarded one or both of the awards before, so play if you want, but it still would be interesting to hear 7 more interesting facts about all of you.

Sam at TheLateNightSnack
Claudia at CKSWarriorQueen
Pat at CritterAlley
Lauri at YourImaginationIsYourLimit
Misky at MiskCooks or MiskMask

Thank you again Jess and Monique - I appreciate your friendship.  Happy blogging, happy awards!

***
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And the Winner is...

One lucky person had a chance to win a copy of Bylines 2012 - a great tool for writers. Last night before I went to bed I made sure all the names of those who left comments or signed up to follow my blog were entered into the magic bowl. I left it on my husband's dresser so when he got up in the morning, he could pull out a name.

I woke up this morning and felt like a little kid getting into something I wasn't supposed to, sneaking over to my husband's dresser to find out who was the winner. Only the magic bowl was gone. Again, I felt like a kid--what? Where is it? I spun around in circles. And there it was on my dresser with the name proudly propped up on top of the magic bowl. So are you ready... the winner is...

TAMMY

I wish everyone could have won. I also want to thank everyone for participating and I believe I made a few more friends... or at least I hope so.

Congratulations Tammy, you're going to love Bylines!

Friends and Writing

My husband brought home a Kindle for me. Not long after, I downloaded several free e-books, but I still have a hard time reading on a Kindle. I'd much rather touch and feel and smell the pages of a book.

Last week or so, several bloggers mentioned a free e-book Flashlight Memories (Silver Boomer Books) and knowing these gals, I charged up the Kindle, downloaded the e-book and thought I'd read it later--you know when I had some leisurely time. My curiosity got the best of me and I scrolled through looking for my blogger friends.

Cathy C. Hall's story, "A Pickle for a Nickle" made me want to run to the library to read that children's story that captivated her when she was a child.

Linda O'Connell's poem, "A Classic Tome" made me long for the years when my kids would snuggle up next to me so that I could read to them.

Donna Duly Volkenannt's story, "Read Away Vacation" made me think about my own shyness, however, I didn't have the same kind of smarts as Donna.

I still wonder why I was never read to or encouraged to read as a child. Sometimes it makes me feel like a fraud as a writer.

These three pieces touched my heart, each in a different way and that says something to me about the writing style and character of these gals.

Another Family

Dear Mom,

It’s Susan’s birthday today. My best friend from grade school. After you died, Susan’s mom Elsie was like a mother to me, and I became part of their family—ha whether they liked it or not because Susan, being the oldest, always got her way. And now I’m really like part of the family since Susan and I fixed up her brother Bud and my sister Ruth. They have a son Josh. Susan and I always joke, if we were married that’s what our kid would look like. No one gets that—what we’re saying—it’s a friend thing from having had over 40 years sharing the good and the not-so-good times in our lives.

Before we could drive, we wanted matching cars. Susan a light blue Volkswagen Beetle and I wanted mine a bright yellow.

Susan and I went to different high schools. I was dating a guy, and went to a CYC dance at my old grade school. It was at the dance my date laid eyes on Susan and he fell in love—love at first sight. After high school the two moved to Hawaii and married. The good thing from that marriage was their son Steven.

Both Susan and I have gone through three divorces and are currently on our fourth marriage. We didn’t plan it that way. It seemed like when she was getting a divorce, I was getting married and vice-a-versa.

We’ve had a brief period of not speaking, but the love of our friendship was too strong to let that go on.

Even after 40 years I’m still discovering something new about Susan. There are as many differences between us as there are similarities, but we both accept each other for who we are—and that is a beautiful thing.

Happy Birthday Susan!

P.S. Mom, here’s a rendering of the two of us that your grandson Casey created from our grade school pictures that's below the painting.

Sweet

Dear Mom,

Today I was to meet three friends at the mall to walk. No one showed. I debated whether to go in and walk by myself, but I did. I made one round and nearly talked myself out of finishing the other three rounds.

It seems to be longer by myself even though I finished in less time. I like the solitude—it’s good for the Soul. I kept cheering myself on. It wasn’t that difficult when I thought about all the “bad” stuff I ate this past weekend.

Pizza at PI that Jerry & Nancy treated us to, that leftover Wickedly Delicious Chocolate Cake and homemade vanilla ice cream, breakfast at Uncle Bill’s on Sunday morning, my first Gus’s Pretzels from Mike, malt balls all the way from Chicago from Mark & Kristen, chocolate covered pretzels from Linda—sweet stuff from sweet friends.

Sweet pounds.

I walked knowing the exercise wouldn’t equal the calories that passed through my lips. But it was worth it knowing I have some mighty sweet friends.