The month of July can mean so many different things to so many different people. The first thing that comes to mind for most Americans is our Independence Day. On July 4, 1776, we truly became an independent nation. There have been many struggles, hardships, good times and excitement but it is on this day that we celebrate our independence as a nation for the freedoms that have been given to us. For some this month is the end of Summer break as so many get ready to start a new school year … [Read more...]
The “Softening”
In a month, Mari will have been gone for four years. I have talked several times over the last four years in how the day she died is not an anniversary as this signifies happiness to me. My eighteen year wedding anniversary was this past February. That is a happy time. Mari’s death, anything but. However, I have come to call it the mark. When Mari died I became wrapped up in the utter sorrow and sadness of it all. My heart felt like it had been ripped open and a gaping would left in its … [Read more...]
Joy
Joy can mean so much to so many different people. For me I felt pure joy last night. I spent the day determined to write write write in the fictional book I am writing. I actually wrote 8,472 words and finished the first draft of my novel. Talk about exciting. I think back to how I began writing. It was to keep my friends and family abreast of what was happening to my little baby girl. I started a Care Page. Those first fifteen days of writing were while she was a live and the last day, the … [Read more...]
The Unexpected Journey – Revised
I wrote this short story a couple of years ago. I have been told it would make a good children's story. What do you think? I would love to hear any and all comments. Thank you. The sudden darkness hit her like an overwhelming force of nature and seemed to envelope her all at once. Suddenly off in the distance, a small speck of light appeared. It drew her in as if calling her by name saying, “Ariella, follow the light. It will guide you on your new path.” So she did. As she went, she … [Read more...]
Savoring every moment
In life we have a tendency to go full steam ahead as we are all in such a hurry. We microwave our dinner or go to a fast food restaurant because it is quicker. We create our speedy checkout option on a website so we just have one click to checkout and we are done. We have our keyless remotes to get into our cars so we don’t have to pull out our keys to open the car door or pop open the trunk. The bottom line is we try so hard to make things go quicker so we can have what will feel like more time … [Read more...]
Becoming a Writer
What has writing done for me? Well more than I ever thought even possible. I remember sitting in my high school English class and being just a “C” student. It was hard for me. To get into college I couldn’t even test into English 101. I would have had to go three below and start with English 097. I mean, you really can’t much lower. So for years I have always thought of myself as a terrible writer and that my English writing sucked. By the time I was around 22 or 23 years old I was … [Read more...]
Today kind of sucked for me
Today kind of sucks for me. I had to go to the hospital to have a procedure done. Don’t freak out. It is nothing serious. My GI doctor wanted me to have the test (procedure) done to check to see how much acid I have that might be coming up from my stomach. There were two test to be done. The first one took about an hour to do. I had the privilege of have a tube (she said it was a pediatric one at that) stuck through my nose that she then had to slide down into my belly. Well, through this … [Read more...]
Things that happen
Today kind of sucks for me. I had to go to the hospital to have a procedure done. Don’t freak out. It is nothing serious. My GI doctor wanted me to have this test (procedure) done to check to see how much acid I have that might be coming up from my stomach and causing me problems. There were two test to be done. The first one took about an hour to perform. I had the privilege of having a tube (she said it was a pediatric one at that) stuck through my nose that she then had to slide down into … [Read more...]
Old and New
It’s interesting to me to have a child, my niece, ask me a question about a conversation she over heard me having with her mom on the phone talking about how I died the day Mariana died and a new Kristena was born. Athena asked me this morning, “Auntie Kris, last night when you were talking to my mommy you talked about an “Old Kristena” and a “New Kristena,” what was the “old Kristena” like?” I wasn’t quite sure how to answer this. How do you explain to an 8 year old what you used to be like? … [Read more...]
Having Kids
This weekend has been a nice relaxing weekend. I have basically sat here catching up on one of my favorite shows. The only thing that stinks is that Keith is not here. He is on a business trip this week. I miss him when he is gone. The kids haven’t been exactly happy has they have both been grounded all weekend. I think that it really has impacted them. Trevin’s was mostly for lying (again) and Athena’s was mostly for being disrespectful and rude to an adult but going up to the other’s team’s … [Read more...]