It has been a long time since I have posted a story. I have recently started writing again. I am working on a new story. And I am trying to decide which stories to include in a book I want to publish. A collection of short stories. Reading everyone’s posts have inspired me to really make my dream of having a book of my stories published.
My new email address if anyone would like to email me is: galoopy186@gmail.com
I apologize for not posting anything. I fell and broke my wrist. I am on the mend. Been working on a few stories. I hope to post some stories soon.
I have been struggling with some changes in my life. That is why I haven’t had time to come on here and post anything for awhile. I do have stories I am working on. And I am working on putting together a collection of my short stories.
I hope to be starting to post stories next month. I enjoy writing these short stories. I am getting my focus back on writing. Just wanted to give everyone an update. Through this summer, I will be posting stories. Not everyday, I am still working on some kind of schedule. I will let you know what it will be. Thank you for your support and understanding.
I have a new email address: MaceyLynn1965@gmail.com
Happy Reading 🙂
Hello everyone, I apologize for not being on here that much over the past month or so. I have been taking care of things that needed my attention. I also have been working on putting together a collection of my short stories into a book. I am hoping to post more short stories soon. When things slow down a bit, I will continue to post more stories. Thank you understanding.
new email address is : maceysjourney50@gmail.com
Tabitha leased a new car about three months ago. Her first scheduled maintenance was scheduled for the first of December. She wasn’t able to make that appointment so she rescheduled it for the following Saturday. Her day off.
The day came for when she was to go to the dealership for her appointment. Tabitha and her mom Betty in the past would go out to lunch after the appointment. Everything has always gone fine and no problems and the wait time has never been more than about an hour. Then they drive down the road a few miles to the diner where they have lunch. So, there they were on the way to the dealership, talking and laughing and having a good time. Arriving about fifteen minutes early for the appointment.
They head over to the desk where the service representative is and let him know they are here for the first maintenance appointment. Tabitha got a voicemail a few days ago about a recall, the service rep said they would take care of the recall. It was for the thermostat and had to be replaced and it would take about an hour and a half. Tabitha thought, no problem, we will just watch the television in the waiting area. Time should go by quickly. Her mom brought along a crossword puzzle to work on, and she would play a game on her phone while they wait.
One hour and half go by and the car isn’t done. She figures, they seem busy, so it may just be an extra few minutes. That’s fine, they are pretty good about not keeping people waiting too long when there isn’t a problem. They people that were waiting before them were starting to leave and a few others arrived for their appointments. Tabitha kept thinking they would be called and they could head to the diner for lunch. Nope! Still waiting, Betty goes back to working on her puzzle, and she starts another game on her phone.
Two hours have gone by and still no word. Have they lost my car? Taking it for a joy ride? Maybe they took the car out to get some lunch. OMG! Did they misplace my keys and are trying to make a new one?! Did they lose the paperwork? Tabitha’s patience was getting thin. But she has always brought her car here for maintenance, they would have told her if something was wrong. So, she took a deep breath and watched some television and played a game on her phone.
Three hours had gone by, when she leaned over to her mom and quietly said, ” We could have walked to the diner, had our lunch, and walked back and probably still would be waiting.” Her mom chuckled and nodded in agreement.
She was about to go up to the service desk and ask how much longer it would be, because she noticed that some of the people that came in after them have had their car worked on and left. She leaned over to her mom and said that it wasn’t fair that they were leaving before they were, her mom told her that we don’t know why they were here and it could have just been something that didn’t take long. Tabitha shrugged and went back to playing her game.
Time check? Almost three and a half hours. They overheard the service rep say that they were busy with inspections today and that they appreciated the customer being patient because he was waiting a long time too. She checked out the window by the door they came in and a red car was pulled up by the service valet. Thinking it was her car, she got excited because she was hungry and wanted to get out of there. When she realized it wasn’t her car, she frowned and sat back down.
About ten minutes after the gentleman left, the service rep called their name. They walked to the service desk, her mom signed for the work that was done today and they headed to the door relieved that they could finally leave.
When they both were in the car, Tabitha started the car and turned to her mom and said, “that was a three hour tour.” They both laughed and when they got to the diner, they joked about hoping that their food wouldn’t take three hours. Their lunch didn’t take long to arrive. They left full and were heading home. And no, it didn’t take them three hours to get home.
(sorry I couldn’t resist that last line 🙂 )
Cassie and Julie have been baking Christmas cookies every year since they were teenagers. They would go out and buy Tupperware containers and label each one for those they make cookies for. When it came to getting all they needed to make the cookies, each one had their list of what they needed to get.
Every year they would take turns baking at each others place. This year it was Cassie’s turn. She put up colorful lights and Christmas decorations and put on holiday music to set the mood. Julie was on her way over, so she put on the tea kettle and had the tea ready for when her friend arrived. Once she arrived, they sat down and checked their lists to make sure they had everything before they got started. When they had everything, it was time to start with the first batch.
When certain songs would come on, it would remind them of different times of when they were younger. They met when Cassie’s family moved in just a few houses down on the same street when she was around 5 years old. Their connection was instant, and they have been together ever since.
Julie smiled while she was mixing some butter and sugar in a bowl, it reminded her of one of the first times they started baking together with her mom. She giggled as she started the story.
“Remember when we were finally allowed to help my mom mix things instead of just waiting to scoop the dough on to the cookie sheet?” Cassie giggle at the memory and added, ” Yea, that was the time when I mixed up the sugar with the salt, and your mom told me I wasn’t allowed to do anything until it was time to scoop. But she allowed you to mix the butter and sugar.” They both giggled over that. Julie stopped mixing and held out the bowl to her and they both laughed themselves silly. When they got their composure back, they finished up adding the ingredients and scooped the dough onto the cookie sheet and put them in the oven. They even had a list of how many batches they were going to bake for each type of cookie. While they were waiting, they made another cup of tea and sat for a minute before making another batch.
Julie was singing along to one of the songs that came on, and Cassie got up and started to dance. Since she didn’t really know how to dance, she gave it all she got and danced her heart out. They both were dancing and singing when the timer for the cookies went off.
After a few hours, they were almost done, only one more batch and they were finished. As each batch cooled, they separated them into each container. Cassie had a plate set out for them and put some on the plate for them to have when they were finished.
They had baked Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Kisses, Oatmeal Raisin, and Snicker Doodles, and Julie’s favorite Spritz cookies. Because she liked decorating them with rainbow sprinkles. Cassie’s favorite were Snicker Doodles.
The last batch was done and Julie placed the cookies on the cooling rack, Cassie was making them a cup of tea. As each container was filled, they marked them off the list. With their cup of tea in hand, they headed to the living room to put their feet up and relax. They were quiet for a few moments, looking at the Christmas lights and decorations and feeling good about baking the cookies for friends and family. Without a word, Julie got up and grabbed the plate of cookies from the kitchen counter and brought them back in, already chewing on a spritz cookie as she put the plate on the coffee table. Cassie smiled and grabbed a snicker doodle.
Cassie was the first to break the silence. “We can split up the containers to deliver to everyone. That way, one person isn’t having to drive all over to deliver them.” Julie nodded in agreement. When they finished their tea and cookies, they divided up the containers and said their good byes.
Their tradition every year has been not to exchange gifts. On Christmas Eve, one person orders the pizza and the other brings their favorite Christmas movie, The Christmas Story. Their present to each other is spending time laughing and enjoying each others company. Their friendship is a gift that they give each other everyday.
In this moment I see your darkness
In this moment I see your light
In this moment I see your pain
In this moment I see the hope
In this moment I see the struggle
In this moment I see the confusion
In this moment I see the love
In this moment I see you
In this moment you see me
In this moment I am right where I want to be
In this moment I am where I need to be
I am not sure what made me think about this particular childhood memory. It made me smile to think about it. It was when I was back in 2nd grade. It was the best time I have ever spent in all my years in school. Because of the teacher I had. Mr Perlish. He made learning fun.
He would take pictures of those of us in the class. Not just in the classroom, he would take pictures of us outside playing or on field trips. Even when we were all in the auditorium. It wasn’t til many years later, we would see why he took the pictures.
The pictures that he took, he saved to give to us when we were older. What he did was he made the pictures into postcards and would send them to us on our birthdays. He would wish us a happy birthday and would let us know how he was doing. I think from 2nd grade until I was in high school, I received a picture postcard every year of when I was his student, of things we did back then. I still have some of them. I saved as many as I could.
It’s funny how some memories stay with you and are so vivid, that you remember how a room looked or what activity you were doing. There was one day where we had all the desk and chairs back against the wall all around the room. So we had a big open space to spread out this big sheet of brown paper. Then had all the colors of paints and brushes for us to paint. We all picked which part of the paper we wanted to paint on. Once we chose the colors we wanted, we all went on to paint. I don’t remember what others painted, but I remember I painted a flower. I think it was a daisy. I didn’t know how to paint anything else. When we were all done, and all the paint had dried, he hung it outside the classroom in the hallway for everyone to see when they walked by the room. We were all so proud of our work.
Not sure how this was exactly, but I remember having index cards with words that I needed to learn how to spell. Each day, if we were able to spell the word correctly, it would be crossed off and then it was on to the next word. There were ten words on the card. If you misspelled the word that day, you would be given another chance to spell it, if you still misspelled it, you would have the next day to try again. You wouldn’t move on until you spelled it correctly. He wasn’t mean about it or made you feel bad. He would suggest different ways of learning how to spell it.
Recess we would play on the swings and run around as kids do. There was a sandbox, but I didn’t really play in it that much, because I didn’t like getting the sand in my shoes. On rainy days, we spent recess in the classroom drawing pictures or just messing around. Everyone got along, no one got out of control. We all liked our teacher, so we all wanted to be there to see what fun thing we would learn that day.
Most of us didn’t pack a lunch, there were a few that did, but most of us got our lunch at school. I don’t remember a lot of what they had for lunches, it was the usual for school lunches. What I do remember is when I had a Mr Goodbar candy bar. Everytime after that, I made sure that I had the change to get one when we went to lunch. When I have one now, it takes me back to this time. I even remember how the cafeteria was layed out.
I know this is short, I just wanted to share a childhood memory that made me smile. I hope this helps to take you back to a time in your childhood that makes you smile.
Hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane. Happy reading!
Amy was putting her freshly washed sheets on a clothes line that she set up in her back yard. She wanted to have the scent of a beautiful spring day that she couldn’t get from a dryer sheet. And she hung up some towels as well. So that when she opened her linen closet, it would smell like outside. .
When she was done putting the sheets and towels on the line outside, she went inside and opened the windows to let the fresh air in. Letting the fresh air come through the kitchen to the living room. Then she went to her bedroom down the hall and pulled back the curtain and opened her bedroom window, letting as much fresh air in to make the inside of the house smell like the outside.
Just letting the sun and fresh air in, made her house cleaning not feel like a chore. She sang her way through doing up the days dishes and mopping the floor. While she dusted, she put on some music and dance while dusting and running the vacuum. Using the vacuum as a dance partner. Amy wasn’t much of a dance, but she could hold her own.
When she was done cleaning the living room, she danced her way to the bathroom. Amy wiped down the sink and counter, put some bowl cleaner in the toilet and let that sit. Then scrubbed the tub and rinsed it out and let it air dry. Brushed the toilet and then flushed it. Amy stood at the doorway of the bathroom and nodded and smiled. Clean and sparkly!
Amy went back downstairs and went out back to check to see if the sheets were dry enough to put on the bed. They still were a little damp, so she went inside to make a cup of tea and sit on the patio chair and enjoy this beautiful day. When she came back outside, she brought out her Ipod with her cup of tea and decided to put on some music. When the music started, she was dancing again. Not caring if her neighbors saw her, they didn’t really pay attention, she dances all the time. Her one neighbor Mrs. Stanley, just smiles and shakes her head and goes back to tending her garden.
She was really getting into her dancing, twirling and not paying attention to how far she was spinning around and round. Next thing she knows, she is spinning into one of the bedsheets. But she isn’t able to stop until she is tangled up in the sheet so bad, she looses her balance and falls. At first she tries to calmly get out from underneath the sheet. The more she moves around, the more tangled she gets. Amy stops for a minute to think of another way to get out of this. She doesn’t want to have to call over Mrs. Stanley again. She walks her hands down her legs to find the end of the sheet. Thinking that she can just lift it up that way. Amy tries to lift the sheet up, doesn’t work. It is wrapped around her two or three times. She didn’t realize how many times she spun around before stopping. Then Amy thinks if she spins around the opposite way, then it will unravel. Spinning around once, it feels like it’s coming loose. So she keeps spinning and it finally becomes loose. Amy looks to either side of her yard to check to see if the neighbors saw any of this. Thankfully they haven’t. Or at least she hoped not while she was under the sheet. Her Ipod was still playing, she had pulled the ear buds out as she was struggling under the sheet. She turned it off and stood up and hung the sheet back on the line.
Amy knew that her tea was cold, so she went inside to make a fresh cup of tea and take a moment before taking down the sheets and towels. This time, when she went inside, she put the Ipod on the kitchen table and didn’t take it out with her when she fixed her tea and went back outside. She was going to sit and enjoy her cup of tea.
Amy made a mental not to herself, no more dancing outside while drying things on the clothesline.
One year, we had my uncle, aunt, cousin, my uncle’s friend and his wife came with us for a week. Also, my other uncle and aunt, and my five cousins were there too. Everyone had their own place and we would meet up on the pier to catch crabs. After lunch, all the cousins and my brothers and sister and I, would walk down the street and buy candy. We would try to save it for as long as we could, but after a day or so, we would have to walk back up to the store to get more candy. It wasn’t a busy street, we didn’t worry about traffic.
This one memory of my uncle and his friend sitting at the end of the pier one night. Trying to fish by flashlight. You would have to have known my uncle to understand that this was a cool idea. He could convince an Eskimo to sell ice water. Anyway, It was dark and us being us, we wanted to have a little fun with them while they were trying to fish with the flashlight.
We went back to our cottages and got a few boxes of Whoppers, and then went back out to the end of the pier. They didn’t hear us come back out behind them, my uncle was so focused on seeing if a fish was on the line. Then we started throwing the Whoppers one at a time over their heads into the water. My uncle would shoot the flashlight to where he thought he saw a fish jump out of the water. We would wait a few minutes and then do it again in a different spot. Then we would throw one over and then another one right after that, having him think that there were two fish at the same time. They realized it was us when we couldn’t hold back laughing so hard we had to sit down on the pier so we didn’t fall off the pier into the water. They didn’t sit out on the end of the pier after that.
I don’t remember if we used the squid we had sitting on the pier for the crab baskets, but I remember it was there. Because a few of us stepped on it. And we did that gross funky dance when you step on something disgusting and you feel that you can’t get it off the bottom of your foot. Makes me shiver just thinking about it.
Did you know that you can catch a flounder in a crab basket? Neither did I until it actually happened. As I was pulling the string up from the crab basket, I could feel something moving around in the basket, I just thought I had caught two crabs. NOPE. I held up the basket and just kept yelling, “I caught a fish!! I caught a fish!!” Everyone came over and saw it was a flounder. We got a separate bucket and filled it with some water and put the fish in it to take back to the cottage later. We weren’t done crabbing for the day. Back then, I didn’t like fish, so someone else ate the fish. That was the only time I got a fish in the crab basket.
One memory I have that still makes me chuckle to this day, is the wooden screen door that we would let slam as we would run out the door to go out to the pier. We would open that door wide, and we would be half way around the front of the cottage, and then you would hear SLAM!! I can’t tell you how many times we were told not to slam the door. Would never fail to happen.
Happy Reading!
Maceys Journey 