August 2005 - Posts

• Another Birthday

  I will be celebrating my birthday this weekend. Last year at this time, my family was planning a surprise party for me. My daughter Cathy's gift was probably the biggest surprise in that she flew my grandson Chris home from Florida for my birthday. A few days before my party, she said that she had ordered my gift and it had arrived. It was too big to carry arround so she wanted me to have it ahead of time. Needless to say, I was totally shocked to see him standing there when they came to visit that evening. On the day of my party, when we pulled up in the car expecting to attend a picnic and I saw everyone, it was overwhelming. I had not had a party just for me since my wedding shower (and that was a long time ago). I started to cry, but they were tears of joy. I knew my immediate family would have some sort of celebration (because we always do for everyone), but I did not expect what was in store for me that day. There was so much to eat and drink, it was ridiculous. The cake was huge and beautifully decorated by my grandson Richard and his friend Dave (graduates of The Culinary Institute of America). Yummy buttercream frosting with tons of calories. There were gifts, cards, decorations, picture collages, and flowers. Of course, there were lots of hugs, kisses and good wishes from everyone. It was a wonderful party mainly because my husband, children, grandchildren, family members, and good friends were there to help me celebrate my special day. My birthday this year will not be as eventful, but none the less, another year that I will have to celebrate my good fortune of having a loving family and good friends. Posted Aug 30 2005, 11:57 PM by dianastories with no comments

• School Days

  It's that time of the year when kids are going back to school. Some will be first timers; going either to pre-school or kindergarten and getting on the school bus for the first time while others will be leaving home and going off to college. Parents will look at their children and wonder where the time has gone. Probably thinking they were just babies not that long ago. When children are little and leave for school, they will be home at the end of the day, but going off to college, now that's a different story. The poem that follows is one that I wrote for my daughter when her daughter left for college. Mom waves Good Bye to her little girl Imagining her small with her little curls But college is waiting for her today To learn all she can and be on her way Mom starts to cry and thinks it won't be so bad She really shouldn't be feeling so sad Her room will be clean and the phone will be still And then there's the car with the gas that she constantly fills But when she comes home for a visit or two Mom probably won't care that there's extra laundry to do Mom knows the visits at first will be more because school is still new But as time goes on, the visits will become few It's not that she forgets her family and stays away It's just that she's trying to make her own way But Mom's still sad as she waves Good Bye For childhood is leaving and adulthood's close by Posted Aug 29 2005, 05:39 PM by dianastories with no comments

• The Numbers Game

  A few months ago, I decided to take a Writing for Profit Course. Like any other class/course, there are always assignments. The instructor would give you the first paragraph and then it was up to you from there to write a short story. Keeping in mind the first paragraph is the assignment, the rest belongs to me. I entitled this "The Numbers Game". Here goes............ Once in a while, even an old man likes to play games. Only the game was wierd even for an eccentric. The game itself was innocent enough, but yet you could call it deadly. Sam was a widower who lived alone. He did, however, have a friend named Jesse with whom he enjoyed playing checkers. Unexpectly, due to poor health, Jesse had to move to another city to live with his daughter. Each morning, Sam would start his day by reading the newspaper. While reading the Obituary section, he came up with the idea that involved a game that would keep Jesse and himself in contact. After much consideration, he worked out the rules. He and Jesse would each use their respective city's Obituary page as their "playing" board. For each person that died between the ages of 60 to 70, you score one point; between the ages of 70 to 80, you score two points, and finally over the age of 80, you would score three points. The numbers would be tallied each day. At the end of the week, the highest score wins. Sam presented his idea to Jesse and they were on their way. Each day, they read the Obituary page and tallied up their numbers. This went on for several weeks. One Saturday morning, as Jesse was about to read the newspaper, the phone ring. It was a relative of Sam's. Sam had left instructions that Jesse should be notified in case of illness or worse, death. Jesse listened to the phone message. Giving a sign, he hung up the phone knowing now that the game was over. But then with a crooked little smile, he thought "It looks like I've won the last game because it appears that Sam's number was up." Posted Aug 27 2005, 11:23 PM by dianastories with no comments

• A Little Comparison

  Well, I'm back. Do you like this font and color better? Tried to decide what I should include in my blog today. After some thought, I decided to make it short and sweet and just share one of my poems. But first, I want to explain what prompted the poem in the first place. My sister had a Robin's nest near her garage. One of the babies had fallen from the nest. The mother Robin was upset as was my sister. While waiting for my brother-in-law to come home to put the baby back in its nest, she stood in the garage with broom in hand chasing a cat whenever it approached the baby Robin. In my opinion, Mothers are the same no matter the species. Therefore, The Robin Little Robin in her nest On her eggs she does rest The time is surely on its way When it is the hatching day She sits and waits so patiently For the arrival of her new family Now there's a crackle and then another Very soon, she'll be a mother One by one, the shells they break As baby birds emerge and wake Scarce of feathers colored yellow And cheeping sounds so soft and mellow The chicks abound; they number three A wondrous sight for her to see "Give me food", they seem to say As they cheep, cheep, and cheep away Their mouths wide open; bodies shaking too Mother Robin knows just what to do She cheeps to them, " I won't be long" For they need some food to make them strong Soon she appears in their sight Holding onto their food with all her might The nest alive with cheeping sounds The Mother Robin does her rounds Dropping food from one to another One of the tasks of being a mother Each day Mother Robin flies away To bring back food for another day The babies grow stronger and soon they'll fly At that thought, Mother Robin gives a sigh For all of our babies someday leave our nest Thinking at first, we will finally rest But that thought soon in time goes away And now you wait for a visit each day So don't wish so soon for your babies to grow Because once they do, they surely will go Then you'll wait by the phone or the window at night And smile when you hear them or catch them in sight You'll still try to do for them all that you can Maybe make a meal or somehow give them a hand Once you've become a mother, you just can't return A simple little lesson that I have learned For no matter how big or successful your children become Like the Mother Robin, your job of Mother is never done Posted Aug 26 2005, 05:49 PM by dianastories with no comments

• Richard's Broken Leg

  The next time that I picked up my pen was when my grandson broke his leg. Sitting in the hospital for a long time, I started putting down how I felt in words. This was the beginning of the many poems that I would write for family and friends. I usually write a poem for special occasions; such as graduations, weddings, anniversaries, milestone birthdays, etc. I also always try to insert a little humor in each one. The poems that I write are more like a rhyming story; easy to read and no interpretation. The poem that follows is the one mentioned above. The rain gone away; was a good day I'd say So Richard decided that football he'd play He tackled and ran and threw the football And then without warning, he slipped and took fall In all directions the mud splashed and flew As the kids piled on Richard. Oh, what could he do! He could not move; his leg was just throbbing So Nick ran for help to keep Richard from sobbing He ran to tell Susan to tell of the tale And once he told her, she surely turned pale She could not find Cathy. Oh where could she be Susan needed permission for treatment you see She called to tell David at his hospital room To help locate Cathy and tell of the wound They finally reached her by beeper I'm told So she raced to see Richard to see what'd been doled She arrived at the scene in quite a short time Richard was hurting for sure; she wanted to whine So they called the ambulance as quick as a flash And away to the hospital for treatment at last David was waiting at the hospital door Richard now entered; he could tell he was sore The doctors worked quickly and x-rayed his limb They said "Yup, it's broken, but the future's not dim." They said "A pin we can place in his leg to repair. And later a cast he surely must wear." So Sunday morning came and all were now waiting To hear the results of Richard's op rating "He's going to be fine" said the doctor to all. "He'll be up and around and playing ball by next fall." Now he's lying in bed just as fit as can be Why you'd think he's a king by the doting you see But soon he'll be back to his old healthy self But PLEASE KEEP THAT OLD FOOTBALL RIGHT THERE ON THE SHELF! Posted Aug 23 2005, 09:37 PM by dianastories with no comments

• Personal Experiences

  I would say that my first stories came from class assignments. What I would consider my really first story was an assigment describing a personal experience. At that time, my greatest personal experience was the arrival of our first grandchild. I called my paper "Mixed Emotions". I described the feelings that I held now that I had become a grandmother. Besides receving an A for this assignment, my daughter put a copy of it in her son's baby book. This pleased me very much. My next assignment was to prepare a comparison paper. Here, I compared my daughters' weddings which were very different. Just about everything that I wrote had to do with personal experiences of some sort. I find that this works best for me. After two years of English classes, for some unknown reason, I put down my pen. A few years passed and my son was about to be married and the last one to leave the nest. Many thoughts of his approaching marriage would keep me sleepless at night. Also,this is the time I seem to think the best when everything is quiet and still. I put a poem together (this being my first experience with writing a poem). It went something like this: The seed of life is a wondrous thing given by God alone It is put into a planting place where love and faith are sown There are a few more lines, but sadly I misplaced it even though I thought I had put it in a safe place. I'm hoping that maybe it will show up some day as this was my first endeavor. Posted Aug 22 2005, 02:49 PM by dianastories with no comments

• Moving Forward

  Well there I was in my forties with a class of much younger people than myself. At first, I was a little self conscious because it had been a long while since I had been in a real classroom. Sure, I had attended seminars along the way, but this was different. The first assignment was to pick a product and then write a presentation directed to two different entities that would hopefully buy this product. My first thought was to write about something that I knew a lot about. I worked in a publications office for a large company for many years using an Executive Typewriter. This particular typewriter had proportional spacing and line justification. (Keep in mind that computers were not being used as they are today.) I decided that the Executive Typewriter would be the product that I would promote in my presentations. I chose a PTA Organization and a small publications office to use as the recipients of my presentation. I was on my way. I tried very hard not to have the two presentations sound almost the same as the product would be used to perform different tasks for each. I turned in my assignment and waited anxiously until the next class. Oh My God! I got an A. That wasn't so bad after all. Posted Aug 20 2005, 12:59 AM by dianastories with no comments

• Early Thoughts About Writing

  From the time I was a very little girl, I always wanted to write. Strange as it seems, I'm not big on reading, but like to write. Strange, huh. I always liked rhyming words, but never really put anything down on paper that amounted to anything. It wasn't until I was in my forties that I realized that maybe I could put down on paper some of the many things that would go through my head (usually when I could not sleep at night). I decided to go back to school and take some English courses. This is where I learned how to express myself on paper. I amazed myself how easy it was to put my thoughts into words. Never being a big fan of poems (mainly because I did not truly understand how to interpret them), I was actually enjoying reading a poem and getting some sense out of it. Posted Aug 18 2005, 11:08 PM by dianastories with no comments