Foundations rattled
Occupied, yet not
Currently lost in space
Utilizing last known coordinates wisely
Sharply bringing everything, only now lost
I hate it when I have a cold. It took me literally all day to get this written and I kept forgetting what I was even doing.
It was cold.
Of course it was cold. They were in the middle of the New York City during one of the worst winters on record, of course it was cold!
The point was that they actually felt cold.
Maybe it was the fact that for the first time, they couldn’t see any stars shining through the thick pollution clouding the sky. It wasn’t just the smog coming from all the cars or even from the smoke stacks. It was the light pollution that stunned them.
Maybe this industrial revolution that the former colonies (as they had heard the new country referred to) wasn’t going to be as great as people seemed to think. They certainly didn’t understand much about what was happening, just that they couldn’t see the stars while staying in any of the major cities anymore.
Maybe it was time to see what life was like out West, they’d heard that it was always warm out there and if they could see the stars out at night then they wouldn’t feel so small and cut off from the rest of the world.
They wouldn’t be so cold.
The nights are cold and long…
No.
Wait.
That’s not quite right.
The nights are cold. That much is certain as I snuggled under my multitude of blankets with several pairs of socks attached firmly to my feet and a fuzzy robe on as well. The cat snuggled down with me purrs in delight at finally being warm.
What was wrong was that the nights are not long. No, not long enough at all.
Who wants to wake up at an unholy hour and leave the warmth of their carefully built next of blankets anyway?
Caught up in the thrill of the moment
Only after does the crash strike
Lost in the shivers that drench my body
Darkness driven back by warmth wrapped around me.
The adrenaline crash after the first day of moving was harsh. I hadn’t been on my feet that long without breaks in years, but I was blessed to keep moving. My sister and her husband wrapped me up tight once they realized it was cold brought by the lack of adrenaline in my body instead of a seizure.
So, my sister’s youngest boy has this thing where he needs to feed people. Usually people that he knows, but I have known him to steal all of our cracker packets and fruit snacks (back when we did bagged lunch at the first elementary school they went to before we moved) and then take the to school and give them to other students who, and I quote, “looked hungry enough.”
Even now, he likes to make things (sandwiches, hot dogs, breakfast burritos with eggs and potatoes that he’s cut up and fried himself) and then ‘discover’ that he’s made ‘too much’ and then start handing them out to anyone at the house. The last five breakfast burritos that I have had were because he ‘made too much and don’t I always tell him not to throw away perfectly good food?’
Seriously, my nephew likes to feed people.
His older brother is like that, sort of. He likes to make sure people aren’t thirsty. Every time someone comes over he asks them if they want milk or water or herbal tea or hot chocolate or juice or whatever we currently have in the house. Even if it requires him taking the time to heat up the water and then mix it all up. He gets this kicked puppy look if you don’t accept the drink, waits for you to grasp it (even if you were only going to take a sip of his soda) and then he runs off, yelling that you can’t give it back now.
He likes to give things away that are his if you even look like you like it.
My sister’s boys, I tell you. Someday I’m going to walk out of a store and see them feeding people while my niece is trying to convince those with less warm clothing to put on one of the jackets or other warm clothing that she’s holding.
One time when I was in high school, early high school, I fell over (this was after The Accident and it happened a lot) and she worried that I would get too cold because I couldn’t move for a while. So my little three-year-old niece (at the time) went for the nearest thing she could find to cover me so that I wouldn’t get too cold. I had fallen over by the tea cart that had these really long drawers where we kept all of our table linens and napkins. So my little niece, who didn’t want to leave me in the room along long enough to get a blanket, emptied the drawers and placed every single table linen and napkin over me. She hunkered down next to me to share body heat and together we waiting for someone to come.
She still likes to wrap people up whenever they look cold.
So this week I am grateful for the generosity that lives in my niece and nephews which is something that they share all year ’round but also during Christmas time.
Check out the original Thankful Thursday. (I will add the link to this week’s post for the original when it’s up.)
EDIT: Proper link has been added, go check it out!
We had a hard freeze last night, my bones are still feeling it…
Walking Sissy this morning was very…refreshing…that’s the word, refreshing! I am definitely awake now, though I’m still kind of jerky due to the temperature. It’s just so cold today!
Day 7 – Still sick, really want it to be over and let me actually think. This cold is certainly driven to keep me indoors and away from anything that would construe actual work. I can’t even write very much.
This is, sadly, the best I could do for the Dungeon Prompt for this last week. My brain is just too dead.
Shake well before opening– instructions on a milkshake bottle.
This little thing, while over the 100 word limit, is as succinct as it would let me be. It was inspired by the prompt yesterday from Light and Shade Challenge. I have a bit of a cold, so though I know I usually write another when I don’t hit the word limit correctly, I likely won’t today. My bones are cold. It’s a very strange feeling and I don’t like it, but it’s what my cold is giving me at the moment.
She grumbled quietly as the glare of the sun filtered through the partially drawn blinds. Her head ached more with every blinking of the light as the wind rustled the leaves outside, adding to the dilution of the light through the window. Her nose was all stuffed up and she could feel the phlegm dripping down the back of her throat from it.
“Mary? Mary? Are you awake yet?”
Mary groaned, though it was no less loud than the earlier grumbling. The sound of Warren entering the room and, as quietly as he could, walking across the room gave her enough reason to actually lift her head from their bed and peer out at him.
“I don’ feel so goo’.” she mumbled, placing a hand on her aching head.
Warren handed her a glass of water and a few wintergreen mints but nothing else. Mary drank the water and munched a few of the mints before placing the majority on the end table by the bed. She snuggled back under the covers and Warren smiled slightly before kissing her in the forehead and turning the lights off.
Being pregnant seemed to bring out all the vulnerabilities that Mary usually didn’t have.
Inspired in part from one of the FreeWriteFriday prompts and the slight cold I have this morning.
Every setback is the beginning point of a comeback.Weather will wear at you, beating you down. A moment of peace may sometimes be found. Remember me always, I pray, Meet me again at the end of the day.
Breathing In 