Tucked in Bed, Like an Adult

The other day my elder sister, mother and I were talking about what makes us feel like an adult. When I was asked what made me feel like an adult they asked if it was being able to drive, having a job or being able to boss the kids around for housework and/or homework.

I told them that it was knowing that on days when I have nothing left, when I’m so tired and my migraines are so bad that I can’t even think, let alone speak, the children will put me to bed, make sure I’ve eaten and had water before settling the covers around me, turning out the lights and quietly closing the door.

When they just looked at me in confusion I explained that the knowledge that these children that are not mine but that I have seen grow up and been there to help with that are responsible human beings who know how to care for someone even when they are angry for being grounded (this has actually happened, my eldest nephew was in full tantrum mode and I had a really bad asthma attack. He’s the only one that almost always remembers where my inhaler is. He immediately got it for me, made sure I was breathing, put it back and then continued with his yelling) and they’re not even teenagers yet.

I held these children in my arms,

Babes who could only smile or cry or frown.

Wondering when that changed so fast?

When did they walk without my hand?

When did they talk without needing the translator?

I would sing and read to them,

Then, when I needed it, 

Far too soon, they did the same.

And I’m more than grateful for it.

---

Inspired partly because my nephew brought me an awesome saber-shaped stick, but agreed to keep it in his room because I don’t have a closet just yet. (The duplex is too small, so my clothes are split between two different rooms: my mom’s dresser and my sister’s (and her daughter’s, though it’s really Catie’s closet and everyone knows it) closet. We all fit, but only just. The other reason for this is yesterday’s FreeWriteFriday prompt:

http://kellieelmore.com/2014/01/17/fwf-free-write-friday-o-me-o-life/

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Quiet? I Think Not

Furies ain’t got nothin,’

All around me, sound invades.

Loud and raucous, this isn’t my day.

Lolly-gagging at the end of the line,

I‘m hoping to miss the inevitable gathering of the pack.

Now I must temporarily depart from my writing.

Getting the gathered children to quieten for only a moment, please?

Dinner anyone?

Silence is missed most dearly at this point.

Now I miss it, though it was a good companion this morning.

One glance out the window takes me back to this time last week

When the snow, gently falling, was the only sound I could hear.

---

Written for last Friday’s FreeWriteFriday and partially because my house is a temporary madhouse, despite all our best efforts.

http://kellieelmore.com/2014/01/10/fwf-free-write-friday-quote-prompt-4/

“We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall.” — Louise Erdrich, Tracks

Novel Experience

Well, November is over. I had a lovely Thanksgiving and celebrated a wedding and two birthdays. Thanksgiving was very last minute, though I think I mentioned that in an earlier post. What I also did this November was take part in National Novel Writing Month or NaNoWriMo or Nano.

This would be the fifth time I’ve participated and the third time that I’ve actually succeeded in the word goal, but the first time I’ve managed to do so without having word prompts and the story written in anthology format. The story itself isn’t finished even if I managed all 50k words. I’m going to work on finishing the story, but I should warn y’all that it’s a fanfiction.

I love to write anything and everything, but I like to practice writing new types of things by trying them out in fanfic format. This is a new attempt for me to write a story that I had already had the bare bones down, but hadn’t written out as a chapter-layout story. I’m ridiculously pleased with myself for this attempt even though I’m still working on finished the story.

I likely won’t post this year’s Nano offering here as I post my fanfiction works on fanfiction.net, but try to keep the two accounts separate from one another. I try to post only my original work here. I might post one of the first two attempts for Nano and/or maybe parts of the third attempt as they were are all original works.

Just felt the need to write about Nanowriom.