Monday, August 8, 2011

Your Life in Six Words. Go.

I was looking through old Pillow Book posts a few days ago and decided that I wanted to update a couple of my favorite entries.
...
Smith Magazine is the online home of the "six-word memoir" project. The purpose is to encourage readers to think about perspective and significance without sacrificing clarity and conciseness. If you've read this blog much at all, you are well aware that I occasionally have trouble with the latter. This exercise, therefore, is a bit of a challenge for me. Nonetheless, I figure anything that somehow forces introspection and yet ultimately inspires simplicity is good for me.

So:
Gypsy souls will not break me.
Watching Mom bushhog makes me proud.
Dad would've fussed, but slyly grinned.
My mornings seem better with yogurt.
I loved watching the garden grow.
Nonetheless, the cucumbers wore me out.
Wish I could just sit still.
I can be happy by myself.
I like responsibility, but I'm tired.
Why not finish the three-quarter sleeve?
What doesn't kill us still hurts.
Needing to exercise unhealthily consumes me.
I'm grateful for my amazing job.
Ice cream was a bad idea.
I won't look back and wonder. (Initial list; still true)
It's okay to feel crazy sometimes. (Initial list; definitely still true)
When was I at my best?
***
Simply because Awesome/Not Awesome lists are fun.
Awesome:
*Getting a simple, yet thoughtful and unexpected, text or email.
*Cooking your own garden vegetables.
*Someone taking control, grabbing your face, and just kissing you.
*The perfect iced coffee.
*Fresh herbs...on anything.
*Getting reacquainted with people, those you once knew only as Mr. or Mrs. XYZ, as an adult.
*Making homemade yogurt...and realizing it's actually the right consistency.
*Walking your parents' farm in cowboy boots.
*Mornings when it seems summer just might be turning into fall.
*Unexpected visitors at your workplace.
*Running Jackson Hollow...at the end.
*Having pictures on your dashboard that make you smile...even if it does make you look 16.
*Feeling inspired to write.
*Stray cats you grow to love.
*When your hands look like your fathers, stained and calloused from berries, gardens, and manual labor.
*Taking a picture and realizing it either turned out surprisingly interesting or accidently captures a perfect stranger's ridiculous expression in the background.
*Having someone take a candid photo of you (and a real one, not the "I'm going to pretend I don't see them, gaze off into the distance" kind) that you really love.
Not awesome:
And, Zach, I wholeheartedly agree with your profound conclusion: "this is Earth; this is the world." I know these are totally insignificant. That doesn't mean that they still aren't a pain in the ass.
*Swimsuits: one-piece, tankini, the tiniest of string bikinis...they are all little pieces of horrible.
*Being hot when you're trying to sleep.
*Wet grass on flip-flopped feet.
*The saying, "I'm a poet and didn't know it."
*Looking forward to a soda, opening it, and realizing it's flat or warm.
*When the ice machine at Minit Mart does not work.
*People who wear charm or dangling bracelets at meetings and continually hit the table with said decoration every time they write.
*Facebook misalignments. I "Like" the wrong thing about 14 times/day. Even better: finally typing a message in the correct comment box and then getting the "Sorry. Something went wrong." notification.
*Stuff underneath your fingernails (although stained hands = good).
*Being hot, taking a shower, still being hot when you're trying to get ready.
*Loud people at restaurants...especially when they are saying stuff they think makes them look cool or funny. Never ever has this been the case.
*Blizzards that's aren't thick. DQ workers that don't turn blizzards upside down.
*Eating something really hot, forgetting you picked up said bit of fire, and then rubbing your face.
*Mini-dishwashers. Kristi and Luke, I apologize for the dishwasher diatribes to which you have been privy. No actually, no I don't.
Let me hear your six-word memoirs or awesome/not awesome lists.
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Little glimmers of fall air make me so very happy. I'm ready for hoodies, pumpkin-spiced cappucino, small town festivals, and weekend "let's go look at the leaves" drives.

Oh, and fall photo shoots.

4 comments:

  1. so enjoyable to read, I think you need to change the label, random thoughts of very little significance, because you are making significant impact with your THOUGHTS!

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  2. Family has to say stuff like that...:). I really appreciate you, everything you do for mom and the rest of us, and your comments on here, Aunt Carolyn. Thank you:)

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  3. By looking at the RPM gauge on your car with the picture of Isabella you had to be driving at least 70 mph while taking the picture... that's coordination!!

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  4. Ha! That day I had looked down at the picture and just thought about how happy it made me. Decided I needed to dig around in my purse, pull out my camera, and take a picture right then. ... At least I didn't have Isabella in the car with me while doing all of this:)

    And for the record, I'm sure it was 65 at most:)

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