Fiction Prompts #1: Continue

Hello, friends! I've decided to do something a little different to start out the New Year. Instead of using Tanner Olsen's latest prompts to write reflective blog posts, I'm going to use them to write some short fiction stories. Enjoy!

Today's prompt is "Continue."

Andi was packing

- or, at least, she was going through stuff, which wasn't exactly the same as packing.

She was sitting on the floor of her bedroom, surrounded by piles: keep, toss, donate. So far, keep was winning by a wide margin. After all, how could she part with her third-grade self-portrait that portrayed her with shockingly large eyes and a tiny nose?

Maybe her mother had a point about her hoarding tendencies.

Shaking her head, she turned to the next box. Old crayons, toss. Although she could turn them into... no, don't tempt yourself with projects you'll never complete, she thought. Next she found a crushed mobile that once looked like falling snowflakes, which she attempted to reanimate before giving up and putting it into the toss pile too. 

Ten minutes later, she had added only two things to the keep pile, and she was at the bottom of the box. Andi was about to break it down when she noticed a wrinkled slip of paper stuck to the cardboard. "Hmm, what's this?" she wondered aloud, holding it up to the light. It read:

"My best friend's name is Andi,

And I think she's sweet as candy.

She's got dark brown hair and eyes to match.

In softball she's always down to catch.

She works hard and plays hard too.

She'll cheer you up if you feel blue.

No matter what, she'll always be there,

And she'll show you that she cares.

She loves her cats, her dogs, and me.

The best of friends we'll always be!"

It was signed,

"Love, your best friend forever, Erin Calloway."

"I remember this," she whispered. It had been an assignment in fifth grade. They had to pick a person and write a rhyming poem about them. She had picked her best friend Erin, and Erin had picked her. Andi had been so sure that Erin would pick someone else; her self-confidence was as low then as it was now. But Erin had picked her, and she’d been so excited about it.

Erin Calloway hadn't crossed Andi’s mind in ages. She moved away after fifth grade, and writing letters just wasn't the same as seeing each other every day. They fell out of touch pretty quickly.

She smoothed the paper in her lap and re-read the poem. "Ha, softball, " she muttered. "That didn't last long."

However, it was interesting to read that some of the things Andi held as important now, were important to her back then, too.

"She'll cheer you up if you feel blue.

No matter what, she'll always be there,

And she'll show you that she cares."

She wondered what she had written about Erin, and whether that still held true for her as well.

Andi was about to move to a new city and start her first "real" job after college. She vacillated between confidence and terror. How was she supposed to teach children when she was definitely not yet a competent adult? How was anyone trusting her with this?

But the answer was right there in the poem.

Cheer them up when they feel blue.

Be there, and show them that you care.

If she just continued doing those things, she would probably be okay.

Carefully, she added Erin's poem to the keep pile.

She could hang it up in her classroom, right next to her favorite quote about teaching: 

"What a teacher is, is more important than what he teaches." - Karl Menninger

Christmas Words

Hello, friends!

A few days ago, I asked the Facebook world to choose my next writing prompt from these options:

• Emmanuel
• Noel
• Advent
• Goodwill
• Nativity
• Holy

All of these words are obviously based around a theme - Christmas. But how often this December have you found yourself basing your Christmas season around different words? Here are some of mine just from the past week:

• Pandemic
• Exhaustion
• Not the same
• Fear
• Irritation
• Don't

The winning word from my Facebook post was "Emmanuel." We are probably most familiar with this word from the Advent hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel." While this hymn certainly talks about the Son of God appearing to us, as he did on Christmas Day, it is really talking about a future event.

"O come, O come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive, Israel,

That mourns in lonely exile here

Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! 

Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!"

We are the captive Israel, held here in this world of sin and doubt. We are waiting for the Son of God to appear, for Emmanuel to come back. That's what we pray for every time we say, "Come, Lord Jesus." Those aren't idle words. That is a hopeful, powerful prayer, in which we are trusting that Jesus will come back someday and rescue us from everything that causes us pain.

What shall we do in the meantime, you ask?

(It's so convenient that you always ask exactly what I'm going to write about next.)

"O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" gives us some ideas there, too. It talks about following in the path of wisdom, obeying the Commandments, trusting in God's mighty power and victory, and desiring God above divisions. 

Most of all, the refrain reminds us to "Rejoice!"

We can't forget about the items on the second list I mentioned above. We can't just put those things on a shelf and pretend they don't exist. That's not how life works, unfortunately. We can, however, continually remind ourselves and each other that God loves and strengthens us, no matter what is going on around us. "Emmanuel" means "God with us," and he is, every day.

"Love Letter"

Hello, friends.

I know, I wrote about songs all last month. But today's a Tuesday that feels like a Friday, and I'm worn out from aide-ing and parenting and life. The song on my mind is just too perfect for tonight.

My favorite artist, Malinda, released her first album in 2018. It was named after its title track, "Love Letter." When I did a virtual meet-and-greet with Malinda a few months ago, I was able to tell her exactly why this song means so much to me.

The first line has always struck me.

"I write the world a love letter / by rising from my bed"

When I lived in Oklahoma and was going through the most severe forms of my depression, rising from my bed was the first challenge of many that I would face throughout my day. It was not an easy feat. Often, I would get out of bed, get my daughter out of bed, and drive her to school without getting out of my pajamas. Then I would return home and go straight back to bed. I was frequently (read: 2-4 days a week) late for work because the prospect of actually starting my day was so paralyzing.

But I always did it, eventually.

I'm an Enneagram 2. I'm a helper. I want nothing more than to make the world a better place. Even now, I've got big dreams. It is difficult for me to handle days where the best I can do is get out of bed. But sometimes, that's all I can do, and that's okay. 

I choose not to give up. On the contrary, I choose to get up. 

That's my love letter to the world.

Playlist Prompt #30: "Into the Unknown"

Hello, friends! My final prompt for November, the month of extremely random songs, is courtesy of Kelsey. It's the song all of you had in your heads when Frozen 2 came out: "Into the Unknown."

During this scene in the movie, Queen Elsa is trying desperately to resist the temptation to go on a new adventure. She tells the voice she keeps hearing, "I've had my adventure, I don't need something new. I'm afraid of what I'm risking if I follow you into the unknown."

Later, as she's warming to the idea of following the voice, she says, "Every day's a little harder as I feel my power grow. Don't you know there's part of me that longs to go into the unknown?"

I actually had "The Unknown" as a writing prompt back in June, and back then, here's what I wrote:

"I used to be okay with the unknown. [Moving to Oklahoma] backfired, and I found myself longing for the "known." I wanted my old friends, my old home, my old life. ... I don't know that I'll ever venture into that dramatic of an "unknown" again."

In June, whenever I thought about the future, I felt sad. I couldn't imagine being happy doing anything other than being a DCE. I told everyone who asked that my skills fit that career so perfectly, they couldn't possibly match up with anything else. I was like Elsa in Frozen 2 saying that I've had my adventure, and it was plenty, and I didn't need anything else, ever.

Now?

I don't want to reveal too much yet, because there are a lot of, well, unknowns. But for the first time since I left Oklahoma, I feel that longing again. The longing for something new, something unfamiliar, something that feels like me. Something that I can see myself doing without feeling sad for what I've lost. It's a liberating feeling. 

More details to come, I hope!

In the meantime... I won't be writing every day in December, because that's a lot. But if anyone has any bright Christmas-related writing prompt ideas, please share! Thanks for following along with me this month! And a special thanks to Lindsey, Melissa, Rachel, Kelsey, and Zach for providing me with songs to write about - it was a lot of fun! 

Playlist Prompt #29: "Music Box"

Hello, friends! Today's prompt is a song by one of my favorite artists, Malinda, called "Music Box."

There's one line that's always stood out to me in this song:

"Whose face is in the mirror today? Is it me, or am I in the way?"

I get in my own way a lot. I look at myself in the mirror and think only about what I perceive to be wrong. That's not healthy, or helpful, or positive. It's an odd behavior if you think about it, because if I was looking at anyone else's face, I would be only focusing on what was right and beautiful and lovely. I try to be very affirming of my friends and family. I build them up as much as I can. So why do I use words with myself that I would never use with anyone else?

That begs the question, how can I get out of my own way?

There's no easy answer to that question, but I do see one starting point: using positive words.

Playlist Prompt #28: "Light in the Hallway"

Hello, friends! Today's prompt, courtesy of my brother Zach, is the song "Light in the Hallway" by Pentatonix.

This song is a lullaby, written from the perspective of a parent to a child. However, much of it could easily be seen from the perspective of God to us, his children. I can draw biblical parallels for almost every line:

"Close your eyes, lay your head down / now it's time to sleep"

"In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." (Psalm 4:8)

"If you're scared of the darkness, I will calm your fear / There's a light in the hallway so you know I'm here"

"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." (John 1:5)

"So count your blessings every day / It makes the monsters go away"

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me - practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:8-9)

"And everything will be okay / You are not alone / You are right at home"

"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39) 

Playlist Prompt #27: "Just Want You"

Hello, friends! Today's prompt, courtesy of Rachel, is the song "Just Want You" by Sarah Reeves.

This song - particularly this line: "I don't want it if you're not in it, I just want you" - brought to mind Psalm 42. I only remembered the first verse:

"As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God."

Doesn't that invoke the same theme? All I want is you, God. And it's such a pretty image; you picture a deer by a stream, a calm, quiet scene. But check out the next couple of verses:

"My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, "Where is your God?" 

The Psalmist is not describing a mild thirst he's experiencing. This is the kind of thirst you feel after you've been crying for days without drinking water. I don't know what the Psalmist was going through, but whatever it was, it was terrible.

He goes on:

"These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you."

When all he can do is cry his eyes out, he finds comfort and release in remembering what God has done for him in the past. He goes on to describe God's steadfast love and the song that's with him in even the darkest of times.

Sarah Reeves' song talks about wanting God's plan even if it's not her own. The Psalmist surely wishes that he was not going through whatever it is that's troubling him so deeply, but he doesn't ask God to take it away. He has questions, sure:

"I say to God, my rock, "Why have you forgotten me?"

But his questions do not preclude his faith. Even when we feel confused, unsure, afraid, heartbroken, anxious - our faith reminds us that God has been with us before, and he is with us now, and he will always be with us. We can trust his plan.