Category Archives: prompts

Weekly Prompt – A Good Cause

I am once again participating in Sometimes Sweet’s weekly journal prompts, and this week the prompt is:

If you had unlimited resources, what political or social issue, or area of scientific or medical exploration would you fund? Do you have a cause that is dear and near to your heart that you’d put your time, energy, and money into if you had the means? Tell us about it, along with a bit of background explaining where you’re coming from.

I’ve always said that if I ever won the lottery and ended up with millions of dollars I’d donate a large portion of the winnings.  That being said, I’ve never had a cause that was near and dear to my heart, though I can think of so many important causes and issues that need attention.  Would I spread the wealth all around or focus on a select few?  Making decisions is one of my least favorite things, but for the sake of this entry and as a good brain/social exercise, I’m going to force myself to choose a select few.

Years and years ago, I vaguely recall going to an animal shelter to get a cat. I couldn’t have been more than 7 or 8 years old and probably wanted a kitten, but my mom had the good sense to get a cat that was 1 or 2 years old. Smokey was such a special cat, and I could spend an entire post talking about what an awesome cat she was, but that’s for another day.  When I moved out, Smokey stayed with my mom, and I inherited (begged for) Ziggy, but also made the mistake of going to the local animal shelter with my mom. There were so many cats and kittens, but one tiny little black fur ball caught my attention – probably because he was so vocal and desperately reaching his little paws out of his cage. He wanted to be held so much, and mewed and mewed. My heart broke a little and I told my mom that I couldn’t leave him there.  For that reason, I’ve always had a spot in my heart for animal shelters and The Humane Society is one in particular that I’ve donated to in the past.

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One of the biggest issues our world faces right now, though, is our changing environment and the damage that we have caused over a fairly short period of time.  It’s hard to choose just one environmental issue to focus on since they all are interconnected and linked to one cause – humans.  Global warming is a growing issue, as well as nature conservation in general.  It seems that the human race is doing too little too late and unless there is a swift turnaround so much will be lost.  Granted, we aren’t perfect in our house, but we try to be mindful and hope to make bigger lifestyle changes in the upcoming years.  I think the environment, now more than ever, needs what help it can get in terms of educating our youth and making it a higher priority for everyone.  Too many people have a selfish outlook and figure that as long as they have what they need they don’t need to do more. Or maybe it isn’t even selfishness, but a desire to not even think about the things that make us uncomfortable. I admit that I don’t like watching the news because I become anxious and fearful about the world around me. What kind of a world are my children going to grow up in?  That thought alone makes me want to do more and face my anxiety and fears and attempt to do something.

Weekly Prompt: Hindsight

I am once again participating in Sometimes Sweet’s weekly journal prompts, and this week the prompt is:

They say hindsight is 20/20, and with good reason- looking back at something always gives us a better view. We’re often able to really see how our choices and decisions then shaped our today, and examine what we would have done differently given the chance. When looking back though, we often look way back, but for this exercise stay a little closer to present time and look back just 12 months. If you could go back just one year, what would you tell yourself? What advice would you offer about everything you’ve experienced?

Without a doubt, hindsight is 20/20, and I know looking back there are plenty of things that I would do differently, but as I’ve grown older, I’ve tried to not focus so much on what would have happened if I would have made a different decision. Everything that has happened has made me who I am today, including both good and bad decisions, and it sends my head into dizzying circles thinking about what would be different if I hadn’t done one thing or another.

That being said, I think there is one big thing this past year that I might have done differently, and if I could go back, I would probably tell myself one thing… Wait. While we had talked for a while about moving from our much smaller townhome and it wasn’t really a last minute plan, I think we should have waited on buying our current house. We had looked into moving out of state entirely, but that plan wasn’t lining up, so instead we bought a larger more local house. We had another baby on the way and were slightly concerned about space, plus we kept hearing that it was a “Seller’s Market,” so we made a decision to stay in Minnesota for a while longer. This winter has made us rethink that choice. We knew that we’d have to deal with winter, but so far we’ve had over 50 days of sub-zero temperatures and we’re kind of done with it.

If we had held out in our townhome, we would have more in savings and would probably be able to explore other places before finally choosing our next , more permanent destination. With a bigger home like we have now, we have a bigger mortgage and higher utility bills, so we aren’t able to put as much into savings as we’d like. Granted, we also spend more money on frivolous things then we need to. I may or may not have a minor shopping problem and love spending money on our kids. So sue me.

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However, that being said, with how bad this winter has been, I can’t imagine still being in our much smaller townhome. We would have had to fit two cribs in one really small room, or more than likely not have gotten a crib for Phoebe at all and kept her in our room all the time (which we kind of do now anyway, come to think of it). We also wouldn’t have had nearly as much room for Enzo to run around in, and he is extremely active. Our current house allows us to all spread out and not feel cramped and is therefore much better for gatherings because parents don’t have to trip on kids and vice versa. Another nice thing this past winter has been the shorter drive. In our old house, the road I took was often paved last and there were numerous times I was almost stuck, and then actually stuck on our own street, which I don’t miss at all.

So, there’s that. I’m both happy we have our current house, but also feel a little trapped because we’re not sure we can be Midwesterners for the original 3-5 years we had planned when we moved in 2013. Oh, hindsight. Oh well. Now we just need a new plan. You make the best of what you have (and really, what we have is pretty dang good), so we’re going to have an amazing Spring/Summer and make our house and stay in Minnesota as enjoyable as we possibly can.

Weekly Prompt – Memory Association

I am once again participating in Sometimes Sweet’s weekly journal prompts, and this week the prompt is:

We all have songs that really mean something to us. Often just hearing it can take us right back to that place and we are able to re-experience the memory associated with the song. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but either way music has the ability to really draw things out of us and evoke deep emotion. Choose a song that has a particular meaning to you. Tell the story of the memory associated with the song, sharing as much detail as you can. Take us there; let us experience it with you.

I’ve always loved music and off the top of my head can think of so many memories that have music associations, mostly just fragments, but those fragments are often filled with such nostalgia and/or happiness that it’s hard to even put into words.  Some of my earliest childhood memories have music in them, and I can probably attribute that to the fact that my parents listened to music so often and bought us read-a-long records as well as awesome children’s records like The Smurfs and Rainbow Brite because I was obsessed with the Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer movie.

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When we were younger my mom stayed at home with us and when I listen to Petula Clark and Peter, Paul and Mary, I always think of her because she often had them playing on the stereo while cleaning and making beds. It made doing mundane tasks so much more enjoyable. If I’m really down, I can always count on Petula Clark to put me in a better mood, and I am instantly reminded of sunshine and warm days and the smell of fresh sheets.  It seems so simple, and yet to this day there is no better feeling than opening up the windows on a glorious sunny day and letting in the fresh air and singing along to ‘Downtown.’

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When I think of my Dad I always think of bands like The Scorpions, Foreigner, The Eagles and even Bob Marley.  Listening to them makes me think of sunny days, driving with the windows rolled down with no real destination in mind.  When I was younger I would get so excited when my dad when come in early on a weekend morning and ask if I wanted to go for a drive.  Usually the purpose was to get out and just drive and look for photo opportunities, and I still love to do that.  There’s nothing like getting up early just before the sun is up and getting to watch it rise while you sip on warm coffee and simply take in the beauty of everything around you.  Listening to Foreigner usually makes me want to do something with my hands… build something or do yard work or something physical.  I think of my Dad’s work shop and all of his carpentry tools and piles of sawdust and getting to see something go from a pile of wood to something so much more.

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I vaguely remember a road trip in which my Dad played Bob Marley and the Wailers (Legend) over and over again.  Ha ha.  Now it is one of my go-to CDs when I need a pick-me-up and one of my favorite albums of all time.  I walked down the aisle to ‘Is This Love.’

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I could probably go on and on now that I’ve gotten started, but I think I’ll stop before I get too nostalgic.  Instead I’ll leave you with my first memory that is associated to a specific song rather than just general memories and feelings.  I was around 6 or 7 when I had my first real crush on a boy… Jared.  Our families knew each other because we were in the same congregation, so even though he was a little bit older than I was and his sisters were too, I got to see plenty of him.  Ha ha. I don’t remember whose wedding it was, but I do remember being asked to help hand out wedding favors (with my crush’s two older sisters, no less) and being so excited about the dress I was wearing. I can still picture it because it had a unique neckline that I thought was so fancy, and a floral pattern since this was the late 80’s.  It was a huge wedding from what I recall, and might still be one of the biggest weddings I’ve ever attended. Granted, my perspective might be skewed since everything seemed much bigger when I was smaller. The one thing I remember was the dancing. I wasn’t as shy as a child as I am now, but even then I wasn’t out on the dance floor even though I loved listening to the music and watching everyone else.  Then there was that spectacular moment where I saw Him coming towards me, and my tiny little heart pitter-patted as he asked me to dance.  I still remember the song, and how excited I was, and yet simultaneously embarrassed because it seemed like everyone was watching and I remember one or two comments on how cute we were. Admittedly, it was probably adorable to anyone who was paying attention, and there’s a picture somewhere of the moment, but even as a young kid it was equally mortifying to have my crush called “cute.”  I should probably make a note o fthis when dealing with my future kids.  Anyhoo, without further ado… the song. It was an oldie, and rather fitting – Do You Wanna Dance.

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Crossroads

Sometimes Sweet is doing a weekly journal prompt, so I thought I would join in on the fun! This week’s prompt?  Write about a time you view as a marker in your life; a distinct place where things changed, for better or worse. 

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I can think of two moments in my life that were completely life changing, and both of them happened within the same year.  Thankfully for me, they both ended up being positive experiences, though the events leading up to the first were anything but easy and was a daily struggle.  That story, however, is for another day.

In June of 2008 I met a man.  Technically I met him a year before that, but didn’t remember it. He tells me that he tried to talk to me, but I was apparently not interested. Whoops. Thankfully for me he decided to try again, and as these were the days of the MySpace he sent me a message asking me out.  Throwing caution to the wind, I figured I might as well, even though he had been stalking me at the nearby coffee shop (which I didn’t actually know at this point – I just thought I saw him in there because he also liked coffee, it’s not like I kept running into him in the feminine hygiene aisle at Wal-mart… that would have been awkward).  Long story short, he picked me up for lunch, we talked and joked around and set up a second date… for later that same day.  We stayed up way too late and watched movies because we apparently both really liked movies.

Within a couple of weeks we decided to make it official and label each other boyfriend and girlfriend and we almost virtually became joined at the hip.  Before I knew it he was inviting me to go with him to visit his family in Minnesota for Christmas and suddenly we were talking about living together.  At the time, I thought nothing of it, but now looking back I can see why family might have been nervous at how fast things were moving.  I wasn’t someone who dated often, but I felt really good about Josh, and was happy with the way things were going.

And then we came to it – a major crossroad.  Josh had decided that he wanted to move home to Minnesota from our current location in Colorado… where I had spent the majority of my life, and he wanted to know if I would come along.  I vaguely remember when he told me that he wanted to move back, but I do know that my heart sank when he said the words. Our relationship was in early stages, but I knew that I loved him and that he loved me, so I wasn’t surprised that he followed this up with his hope that I would come with him. As much as I loved him, I was immediately torn. I’ve never been one to jump for joy at change, and I wasn’t sure I was ready to leave my entire family and little world behind.

I can’t tell you how long it took for me to make a decision, but I don’t think it was long.  I knew I had to take a leap of faith and just believe that everything would work out.  I’m not sure who was more surprised that I was taking such a big step to move across the country to the unknown… me or my family. Either way, it was one of the best decisions I could have made.  Sure, the first couple of years were tough, but overall the experience has been a good one, and I don’t even want to imagine what my life would have been if I had stayed behind.

Granted, while Minnesota has been good to us, it is not our forever home and we are yet again coming to another crossroad in our lives. We’ve been there before more than once, but tend to make a U-Turn and circle back around.  This time I think we’re going to have to just take a chance and risk getting lost. Maybe we’ll find the place we didn’t even know we were looking for.