“though resolutions fail and promises may get broken—we must still keep trying“
Now that all the family and friends have retreated back to their own caves to digest the pies, cookies and candied everything of another holiday ruckus, it’s finally time for me to tidy up the old homestead. January has arrived here in the Ozarks. It is traditionally a month of resolutions. Those promises we all make to ourselves to be better neighbors, better friends, better family…better human beings. Time for reflection and regeneration. A time to remember those things that treated us well and how not to repeat the mistakes we’ve made throughout the years. I have my list, though I’m sure most of them will fall by the wayside within days, I’ll still try to keep them as long as I can. Because even though I’ll only keep my resolution for a day, a week or a month, my life might be in a better place for a while. Besides, who says I can only make a resolution once?
Category: Haibun
Sleeping Alone
even in a crowd one can still find solitude—silence is overrated
My children got me a subscription to a service called Storyworth. It sends me a weekly prompt, usually something about my childhood, to help get those creative juices flowing. Of course, the end result will hopefully be to produce a kind of diary that might leave some small insight into who I was back in the day.
One of those prompts read, “when you were a child, did you have to share a bedroom and possibly a bed with your siblings?”
Wait a doggone second guys. Do you mean to tell me that sleeping alone when you were a child is a real thing? Man, when I was growing up back in Wakenda, I recall the biggest house we ever lived in had four bedrooms. I know that a four-bedroom house might sound like a mansion but when you throw in the fact that there were more kids than you could count without using your toes, plus mom and dad, that sure didn’t leave much space.
Heck, even after I joined the Army, depending on where I was stationed, I had to share a bedroom with 4 to 12 other people. Then I got married and spent each night of my life sharing a bed.
After all those years, I’m not sure I could sleep a whole night without the sound of snoring and an occasional fart drifting out from under the covers.
~A Thump on the Head / No Regrets~
In times of impending demise, in your mind, you might see your life being replayed. Sometimes it’s in fast forward, sometimes in slow motion, sometimes both at once. Life flashes in random order, constantly cycling in and out like an out-of-control tilt-a-whirl at the county fair. You’d think that with all those moments stuck on a playback loop that one would walk away with perfect recall of all the events. Not true. You can remember things like the first time you pooped in your diaper and that piece of Bazooka Joe bubble gum you pocketed when you were ten years old. Every detail, no matter how small or insignificant will come flooding back. But what the heck just went down—draws a complete blank.
when death feels certain,
life flashes by in seconds—
don’t regret the show
How Time Flies
Hello friends,
Well I have marked an X on the calendar through half the days of April. Why is it I wonder, the older in years I get the faster time seems to fly by. They keep telling me that after retirement I’d have so much time on my hands I’d start to get bored. But I have to say that I can’t even seem to find the minutes I need to get everything done that I want to do.
At any rate, I just wanted to drop a line and update you guys on my April Reset Challenge. I know what you’re thinking, “you mean he still remembers he was doing a challenge?” I do, and I consider that a win for sure.
After 15 days, I have walked 82.61 of the 100 miles I challenged myself for.
I also challenged myself to write 30 poems for April’s National Poetry Month. As of today, I have written 21 new poems and only ¾ of them are about Donald Trump or his puppet master. Which brings me to today’s monoku:
~How Time Flies~
the older we get—the faster time and memories fly away
Jerry Brotherton 