Tag: dailyprompt

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What Do I Value Most?

Daily writing prompt
What would you do if you lost all your possessions?
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This is something I’ve thought about a lot. I have fears of several types of disasters, and the two that scare me the most are fires and tornadoes. In both, I not only could lose all my possessions, I could lose my cats. I’d be heartbroken over that.

I think about the things that would disappear out of my life and do what I can to minimize some of the losses. I have a safe deposit box for all my jewelry (“all” being a misleading word–I don’t have much, but what I have, I value). I got that when I thought about what would happen to a favorite ring of mine in a fire. It’s gold, and would likely melt. Since there was something I could do to prevent that, I did it. Now my jewelry sits there and I never wear it. Not that have occasion to anyway.

I’ve been working on a novel, and I save every chapter in the Microsoft cloud. I’m trusting that it’s safe there and no one could hack in, but the reality is, my novel needs so much work a stranger probably couldn’t do anything with anyway.

But those are the things that are relatively safe from disaster. What if all the hand knit items I’ve made over the years were suddenly gone? I’ve had to give some of them away because I don’t have room for them, but there’s still plenty I’ve hung on to. I have some beautiful shawls that I actually use, a few timeless sweaters I still wear, and that sort of thing. And all my knitting books and patterns! Okay, I’ve trimmed that collection down quite a bit, but I particularly treasure what I have.

Yes, I have renter’s insurance, which would buy me some new furniture, dishes, and clothes. But it wouldn’t replace the Snoopy mug I got when I sixteen or the handmade cards a friend has given me.

So what would I do if I lost all my possessions? You can bet I’d cry some. But if my cats were safe and I was safe, I guess I’d find a way to rebuild. Looking around now at all the things I own, such as the book of poetry my great-grandfather gave my great-grandmother on their wedding day and the Christmas ornaments friends have given me over the years, I know I can’t keep them all safe.

So I need to value what I have while I have it. But these are treasures that will eventually fall into ruin one day anyway. Who knows what will end up in a landfill when I die. I need to build up treasures for eternity. I can lose all my possessions, but I cannot lose the love of God.

Image Credits: Teddy Bear © VK Studio; Tornado © Breck; Typewriter © OneLineStock–all, stock.adobe.com

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No Computer? I Remember It Well.

Daily writing prompt
Your life without a computer: what does it look like?
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Well, like so many of us, I’ve become dependent on my computer and phone (or mobile device, as they accurately say in some countries). But I lived the first half of my life without a computer, so I know exactly what my life would look like. I’m including cell phones in this post. They’re as much a part of my “computer life” as my laptop is.

Okay, without a phone, you didn’t leave home without change for a phone call. Or money for a cab, if you were on a date and were concerned he might not be the gentleman he appeared to be. For a long time, that call was just a dime. Then it became a quarter–then I’m not sure where it went. It got expensive.

Before there were cell phones, you may have had voice mail, or you may have relied on an answering machine. The latter was a great way to screen calls since it had the caller’s name on it, unless they blocked the number. Can you even block number on a cell phone? I’ve never really looked into it. The other nice thing about answering machines is you could hear your message and pick up the phone if it was someone you wanted to talk to.

But before voice mail or answering machines, you ran to the phone if it rang, because there was no way of knowing who it might be and It Might Be Important. I remember in high school one of my English teachers shocked our class by saying he didn’t always answer his phone when it rang. What if someone needed to reach you? we asked. I don’t remember his answer, or if he even gave one.

Of course there was no texting then, either, so you had to make a call to communicate with someone outside of your home.

My first job out of high school was at a bank. These days everything is done online, but back then, you got paid with a paper check that you had to deposit at a bank. Needless to say, pay days were busy. People would wait an hour in line, and we had fifteen tellers. There were no ATMs, either. The first ones were introduced while I was on that job, and they were game changers. But I don’t remember how you got the cash back, since there was no such thing as a debit card.

If you were sticking to a budget, you might write out checks to pay your bills once a month, then mail them the next day. You needed a lot more stamps back then. If you misplaced a bill, there was no email reminder to pay it and you might get behind in your payments.

Blogs? I guess the closest substitutes for what I’m doing here now would be journals or letters, and that meant hand writing everything. Which brings me to my next point. When I was in high school, I was told not to take typing, because if I knew how to type and my future boss knew this, I’d always be a secretary and could never move up. Through circumstances I won’t describe here, I did take a typing class, but came into the class late in the semester and never caught up. To this day I can’t type particularly well. Thank goodness for spell check.

So, like I said, I know what my life would look like. And I don’t like it.

Image Credits: Typewriter © olegkruglyak; Coins © LONDON2010; Rotary Phone © SRRiadi; Check © HaywireMedia All, stock.adobe.com

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Change Will Come

Daily writing prompt
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
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I’ve written about this before, so forgive me if you have read it already. But the best piece of advice I ever got was actually not exactly advice, but an observation from which you can draw your own conclusion. When I was in my 20s, my dad told me, “whether times are good or times are bad, we always think they’re going to last.”

If times are bad, we may not see a way out. If they’re good, we naively believe the good times will keep on rolling. I needed to hear that back then because my life was on a rocky road and I didn’t see an end in sight. By the time I hit 30, things had changed and I thought I was set for life (talk about naive!).

While my life has been on an even keel lately, I know that could change in a moment. My mom is 89 and has outlived her parents by quite a bit. I believe she’s likely to die suddenly, perhaps a stroke, and I know it could happen any day. My dad is also 89 and longevity runs in his family, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he lived another ten years. He’s very active, his mind is sharp, and he’s going strong.

But we got a bit of bad news last week about my uncle, my dad’s brother, who’s 92 and was also expected to live into his late 90s, just as their two older brothers and father had done. He has lung cancer and has been given 12-18 months to live (FYI, he’s not a smoker). That breaks my heart, and my dad is crushed as well. I hope to see my uncle in April, but there are a lot of ifs about that trip.

So you just never know what the day will bring. Tornadoes, fires, hurricanes–all of these hit innocent people on a regular basis.

But eventually the good comes back. My dad has buried two wives, one who had cancer and the other Alzheimer’s. Today, while the pain of those events lingers, he’s doing well. His long-time friends stepped up and he’s made new friends as well. He couldn’t golf much while Jeanne, the one with dementia, was sick, but he’s back to that three times a week, as well as bowling twice a week, bridge whenever he can, and bocce ball. Oh, and he works out and rides his bike on a regular basis. Like I said, he’s very active. And happy.

Of course the news about my uncle knocked him for a loop. He knows what my aunt will be facing and that hurts as well. It isn’t the time to tell her the good will come back, but hopefully his example helps her.

All we can do is live our lives.

Image Credits: Balance © Jane–stock.adobe.com; Happy Kids © mediastok.ai–stock.adobe.com; Bicycle © Lucky Step–stock.adobe.com

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Such a Leading Question

Daily writing prompt
How would you describe yourself to someone?
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Who would I be talking to? Someone I just met, my boss, my doctor, or even my best friend? The answer, of course, depends on who I’m talking to and how much I trust them.

Since this blog is public, meaning anyone can read it (although my actual audience isn’t as broad as that statement would imply), I won’t share anything really private. And frankly, some, if not most, of my answers will come as no surprise to those who’ve been following my blog for any length of time. But here goes, in no particular order, some things that are important to me and some qualities I think I have.

We’ll start with some hobbies. I love classic movies, so much so that I have another blog dedicated to them. It’s called Classic for a Reason and while I haven’t posted anything in a couple of years, I’m proud to say I have around 200 posts dedicated to movies from the 30s, 40s, and 50s, with one or two more recent films as well. What’s my favorite movie from that era? It’s hard to pick. All About Eve stands out to me, as do the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. But there are many others I can rave about.

Another hobby? I’m an avid knitter. I’ve posted a few things about that on this blog and I have another blog dedicated to my knitting projects called Designs and Words. I actually have yet to write about my latest projects but should get that done soon. I think the last things I wrote about were the scarves I made my brother’s family last Christmas. I loved knitting those, in part because the patterns were so much fun and in part because I was excited to give them as gifts.

Some of you know I’ve been working on a novel. Well, I finished the first draft and I’m getting geared up to go back and revise. I have massive notes from my writer’s group that I need to implement into my story. One chapter at a time…

But about me on a personal level. I’d like to think I have empathy. It’s something that’s come more naturally to me over the years as I’ve addressed the issues in my life, and it’s a characteristic I’ve tried to develop. It follows the teachings of Christ to have empathy, which makes it that much more important to me. These days I’m struggling to face a foe with feelings of support and understanding. It’s a test of this quality that I find so important.

Of course, I love my cats–and cats in general. If you follow my blog you see that all over, so I won’t expand on it here. If you don’t follow my blog you can take a peek at this post and it will give you an idea about my love of cats.

I’ve tried to think of other characteristics to describe myself and nothing comes to mind. Do I have a good sense of humor? Of course, but I think we all do, just different kinds. That last sentence answers a lot of questions you could ask about me.

But one thing I’ve been told about myself is that I’m hard to get to know. I keep things private. Well, I guess I’ve done that once again in this post. Just the way it is.

Image Credits: Circle of Friends © Thiraphat; film clapperboard © Royal studio; yarn and heart © Zen20; helping a friend © notivestudios. All, stock.adobe.com

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Silly Question…

Daily writing prompt
Dogs or cats?
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If you know me at all you don’t need to ask that question. It’s cats, of course, right now my precious Walter and Mimi. It goes back to when I was eleven and we got our first cat, Whittier. From the start, my dad tells me, I was drawn to that cat far more than the multitude of dogs we had.

Which is why it was devastating when, after only a few short weeks, Whittier was run over by a neighbor who didn’t see her when he drove his truck into our driveway. I mourned that sweet, pretty kitten for days. Then we found out the folks we’d gotten her from had two more kittens available, Hugo and Petunia. We ended up taking them both home. Petunia, like Whittier, was a calico, while Hugo was a tabby.

Okay, this isn’t Salem, but she was just as pretty–and long-haired.

As you might guess, Petunia had kittens when she was barely grown herself. But again, tragedy struck, and Hugo was mauled by another neighbor’s dog. (Turns out that dog had attacked other pets before and eventually tried attacking a child. The end of the dog.) We’d come to enjoy having two cats and kept one of the cats from that litter, an all-black cat we named Salem.

When my parents divorced, we had a dilemma: what to do with all the animals. My mom moved out of state while my dad got an apartment. My brother, sister, and I didn’t have the space or resources to care for our pets, so our broken family found new homes for them. Actually, the story behind the cats was a little different. My brother took them with him to college, where they eventually found new homes with other students’ families.

Fast forward to the time I moved to Nashville. I wanted a cat and after living there for a year finally adopted Paco, the cat of my heart. I’ve told the story of how Paco and I saved each other in my blog post Coming Home to Paco, so I won’t go into it again here. I lost him thirteen years ago, around the time Walter and Mimi were born.

However, I didn’t adopt Walter and Mimi until they were about six months old. They’d been abandoned by the folks in the apartment above me in the middle of January. It was cold and icy out, and their cries kept me up all night. Despite the fact that I had no job and was in debt to the Cat Clinic, I brought them in. One of the best decisions of my life. Today, as I write this, one is at my feet and the other is on the windowsill. We just celebrated their birthday.

I think I’ll always have a cat in my life, at least as long as it’s practical. So Cats or Dogs? Cats. Invariably cats.

Image Credits: Banner–cats looking down © emzee-stock.adobe.com; black cat © shchus-stock.adobe.com; group of cats sitting in rows © alexkich–stock.adobe.com