MandatoryPositive

I was having a conversation with this man who claimed to be an “Older Gen X”-I am Gen X. We were talking about “rough and tumble” childhoods of metal Tonka trucks and rubber-ball dodgeballI. I told him I HATED dodgeball It didn’t teach me how to throw the ball because I never wanted to hurt anyone, so I never threw hard. He said “Shiiiiiiit that’s WHY I loved the game! That’s why EVERYONE loved it!”. Then he said “what are you, a social worker? Wow, you’re one of those real-life in the flesh bleeding heart empaths! You know the world is going to break your heart”. Well Jim, it already has, time and time again, but here I am with E 6000 holding it together. One of the HARDEST lessons I’ve had to learn in life is to not let other people’s actions dictate my own. I don’t always get it right, but mandatory positive, sometimes I do. Were you a child of the 70s/80s? What do you miss about that time? PS. Can you believe this sucker is being sold on Ebay for an asking price of $5...

  WRITING PROMPT: Write about something that was hidden in plain sight. Did other people notice it? Was it significant to someone else?  Through a series of unfortunate events, my mom lost most of her stuff. I won’t go into why, mainly because it’s no one’s business, and partially because I always feel bad that I didn’t do more.  I always tried to tell her that it was just “stuff” and it wasn’t important. I was trying to make her feel better, but I’m pissed off at myself for ever saying that. It was HER stuff and she was hurt.  In particular, she wanted these brass elephant book ends and blue floral lamp.  Oddly, I couldn’t for the life of me remember these items. I think it annoyed her when I said that. She would often reply “yes you do!”   Apparently these lamps and bookends were significant. They had made it through several redecorations and she loved them.  She had a sad look whenever she spoke of them.   Today while looking through old photos...