September 30: Writing Prompt #273-On the Road

If you could pause real life and spend some time living with a family anywhere in the world, where would you go?

If I could really PAUSE real life and not worry about my family, job, etc…, I would go back to Spain and live with the 3 families I lived with during my summer abroad in college. I would love to see how my perspective on things has changed since those days and to remember what it was like to immerse myself in another culture and language so completely.  I wonder if my Spanish would come back to me easily or if it would be more challenging in my more adult years.  I wonder if I would still enjoy going to bull fights as I did then, and if the foods I liked/disliked would be the same ones or different this time.  I can imagine I would connect more at this time in my life with the parents than the children of the families I lived with, and I can with certainty tell you that I would not be enjoying the night life in the same way…I would probably be in bed a lot earlier, and playing tourist a bit more during the day.  At any rate, I think the overall experience would be worth a repeat, and hopefully I would appreciate the opportunity to take part in such an adventure even more than I did the first time as I am, I think, just a little bit older and wiser today than I was then.  J 

September 29: Writing Prompt #272-Cleaning House

Is there “junk” in your life? What kind? How do you get rid of it?

I have spent the last 8 years or so cleaning out the “junk” in my life, so to speak.  Those are the years after my divorce, the years of moving from a 3 bedroom home with my boys to a Bachelor’s Quarters (BQ) by myself to a 2 bedroom home with my boys again and eventually with my husband now, and they are the years of leaving the island I called home for close to two decades to move back to the “real world” of the U.S., so I’ve accomplished lots of house cleaning chores, both materially and mentally, during those times. 

How did I get rid of the junk?  Well, at first, I had to do it quickly, inventory and take only what really mattered to me, weigh out what I physically needed and what I emotionally needed to take with me to that BQ.  Just that one act of getting myself out of an emotionally detrimental situation started the cathartic process of letting go of the junk. This also kicked off my journey to discover what I really needed to find peace and gain contentment in my life.  A lot of the emotional junk fell away when I removed myself from the relationships that were keeping me in constant pain and depression, but there was still that lingering bitterness, the worst kind of junk. To get rid of that, I prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed some more. And I cried, a lot.  But, in the end, God washed it all away from me.  He gave me a new perspective on life; he showed me how to let go and stop living in fear and anger.  He helped me hand my control issues over to Him, and the rest of the junk just fell away. 

The only thing left after cleaning out the emotional junk was the material junk in my life and with each move from house to house and place to place, I’ve gotten rid of that by giving myself one last opportunity to relive the memories and then send it off where it needs to go (whether that is to goodwill to help someone else in need, to the garbage, or to be boxed up, saved, and stored for my boys later on).  I don’t have the time or energy in my life anymore for junk.  I would rather enjoy my life than have it become cluttered with the unnecessary and hurtful stuff that tends to accumulate if you don’t pay attention to it.  I’m certainly not saying I never turn away or overlook the accumulating junk, but I try to regularly evaluate my life and determine what needs to go and what needs to stay, for now.  And I follow my original housecleaning plan: distance myself from or let go of the harmful relationships in my life and pray, pray, and pray some more about the rest. I think I get better and better at it each year my life progresses, so maybe when I depart this world, I won’t leave behind too much junk for my kids to have to clean out.  J 

September 28: Writing Prompt #271-Ebb and Flow

Our blogs morph over time, as interests shift and life happens. Write a post for your blog — but three years in the future.

(THE FUTURE) Can’t believe we’ve been back in the states for 5 years now. Can’t believe this blog has been in existence for over 8 years. J Well, I’m still hanging in there, journaling my way through this thing we call life.  Still working as part of the daily grind, still discovering the wonders of the natural world here in the NW on the weekends, and still enjoying my boys and watching them grow into amazing young men.  Life, like my blog, hasn’t changed much over the past few years. The blog has moved since its beginning from the Marshall Islands to the NW United States, but my family, work, and the way I live my life are all basically the same, just happening in a different place at a different time.  I’m always trying to find new things to write about, new ways to write the same ‘ole things, and new inspiration for the road ahead of me.  Hopefully, my insights have become wiser, and I’ve grown in my abilities since I first started this blog, but either way, I continue to appreciate those of you who have hung in there with me, sharing the journey, word for word.   Just like the sea, this blog ebbs and flows with the seasons of our lives, but in the end, it moves on….never stopping to rest, simply to pause and reflect. That’s what this blog is all about…pausing and reflecting.  And no matter what season of life I am in or how this blog changes over the years, the purpose is the same as it always has been, to reflect, renew, and challenge us to be better than we already are and share those experiences, good and bad, with others in the most honest way possible. 

September 27: Writing Prompt #270-A Bend in Time

When you’re giddy with excitement, does time speed up? Slow down? Tell us about the experience of anticipation.

I think for most people, and definitely for me, time slows down when I am anticipating something.  When I have plans after work or vacation is coming, when my son is arriving at the airport for a visit, or when it’s the day to go and pick up our new dog from the shelter, the day moves WAY TOO slowly.  It’s hard to focus or want to really do anything.  I have discovered that as I get older, it’s easier for me to distract myself from the slowing down of time and make it speed up a bit. I do this by getting immersed in my job or duties for the day.  If I’m at work, I get involved in a project to pass the time. If I’m at home, I clean or do all the little things that I often don’t have the time or energy to take care of.  When I’m anticipating an event, my adrenaline kicks in, so I have that extra energy to expend.  With practice over time, I have gotten pretty good at making time pass a little more quickly, so that time moves at more of a normal pace for days full of anticipation.  I do admit, though, that I like the experience of anticipating something.  It gives me something to look forward to in the otherwise very scheduled day-to-day that is my life.  Schedules are fantastic. They make everything run so much smoother, and I am thankful for them, but it’s nice to have a break in the schedule every now and again….just to keep thinks exciting. That’s what the experience of anticipation does; it keeps things exciting!!

September 26: Writing Prompt #269-2100

The language of the future: what will it be like? Write an experimental post using some imagined vocabulary — abbreviations, slang, new terms.

I’ve lived long enough to experience the language of the future already.  I think a lot of it will be rooted in relation to the ever-evolving world of technology. We have an entirely new “texting” language now, and all sorts of terms that refer to technology.  Acronyms are not just for the military any longer.  They ARE the new slang…LOL, BRB, BTW, CYA, BFF, YOLO, JK, OMG, THX, TMI, TTYL, XOXO, SWAK.  Of course, the funny thing is that many of these were part of the shorthand language way before cell phones and texting ever existed. I have half of a heart necklace with BFF on it from the 90’s. I used to have stationary stickers for sealing envelopes that had SWAK on them back in the 80’s.  Now, when you look these up, they are considered among the 50 most popular texting terms. 

In the end, our future slang with be based on our past slang and be some version of the same.  Just like cheerleaders still practice many of the same cheers I heard when I was a kid…”be aggressive, be, be aggressive (B.E. Agg. Ressive) and “let’s get a little be rowdy, r.o.w. a d. y. ,” we all still use some version of the same language. It may become more informal with time, but we communicate the same types of messages we always have….messages of love, anger, frustration, sadness, excitement, fear, concern, empathy, knowledge, and understanding.  So, I don’t have to imagine any new vocabulary of the future….we have already invented it.