A series of essays….
| BREE SEEKING WARMTH AND PLEASURE FROM A CRACKLING FIRE |
….as seen through my eyes!
By: Jacqueline E Hughes
I am so ready to stack and burn logs on the fireplace grate and snuggle with Bree our goldendoodle. She enjoys watching the dancing flames and listening to the distinct crackle of the seasoned wood as it magically burns and shifts just beyond the screen enclosure.
I am so ready to welcome the cold weather with its frozen precipitation coating everything in sight with a blanket of white. Those who know me well will be shocked by this statement given my penchant for warm weather, sandy beaches, and flip-flops on my feet twelve months out of the year. This winter I feel the need to hide myself away. Isolate my thoughts, contemplate life, aging, and, yes, even death.
I am so ready for making time to finish my book and, hopefully, push it out into the world just as though it was another child I have nourished, loved, and welcomed with open arms! The gestation period, having far exceeded anything remotely reasonable, seems to indicate uncomfortable procrastination on my part that has stretched out over thirty years. I’m sad to say that a female elephant has nothing on me!
I am more than ready to unclutter my thoughts, modify my behavior, and prepare myself for what is to come within the next four years. The outcome of the election held on November 5th was a huge kick in the gut for those who believe in democracy and are willing to continue fighting to maintain their freedom and rights for years to come. With age comes wisdom (for most of us, anyway) and it would be wise for all of us to see through and understand the hate-filled and revengeful administration that will consume Washington D.C. as it prepares to disregard the rules and regulations set-forth by the Founding Fathers who crafted a framework of government for our new nation.
I am so ready to begin preparing a delicious meal for my family and share with them the love and true meaning of being together on Thanksgiving Day. Gratefulness abounds as we are seated around the table, looking across from one another through the curling wisps of steam from nature’s bounty that was prepared with so much love: our teenage granddaughter mashing potatoes, my sausage stuffing steaming in the oven, Dan’s famous grilled turkey generously seasoned with sliced lemons, rosemary, and butter, and our daughter setting out her orange/cranberry sauce and marshmallow-topped sweet potato casserole. Yes, we are blessed.
I am so ready (after writing the above paragraph) to partake in a portion of all of the above. Did I mention that this year we celebrate Dan’s birthday on Thanksgiving? I will make a cake and provide ice cream and set it down next to the pumpkin pie with whipped cream. After all, he deserves a variety of sweet pleasures on his Special Day!
I am so ready to, finally, after six years in our house, clean out our basement of the many boxes and bins that currently contain household items I haven’t thought about or required to use for the past six years. In doing so, we will be better prepared to have a yard sale next spring and make the much needed transition after having lived so many years in Orlando. I’ve never given much thought to the phrase ‘purging the guilt of overindulgence’ until now. To become free of so much ‘stuff’ in our lives will help to lighten a heavy load that has been bearing down on us for a very long time.
I am looking forward to giving people in need many of the items I’ve been needlessly hoarding in the basement. A gracious friend told me about a certain homeless lady, down on her luck after a miserable divorce, who watches homes and pets while the owners leave for a short period of time. She had been on a waiting list for governmental housing and recently discovered that an apartment became available. My friend told me that the lady needed pots and pans for her kitchen. Remembering a set still boxed in the basement, I knew of the perfect home for them and I’m hoping she cooks amazing meals for herself and others for many years to come.
I am so ready to slow this school year down just a smidge while enjoying our oldest granddaughter who is on the verge of turning eighteen in May. She is a senior in high school and between her advanced courses and homework, hours and hours spent between gymnastic practice and meets, working part time in a local restaurant as a hostess—we enjoy less and less of her company these days. Recently, she had been filling out college applications in her nonexistent spare time and is locked into waiting for the results. I miss her so much.
I am so ready to have the Kamala Harris for President sign in our front yard installed there—permanently! I don’t want to forget the experience of fighting so hard on her behalf. I don’t want to forget how hard Kamala fought for us, and still does. I can’t forget that over half of this country discarded her kindness and genuine caring for the rights of the people as meaningless and whimsical. It’s difficult for me to understand how so many men (and women) fight tooth and nail against having a woman for president. Why are white men, in particular, so afraid of women in the first place? I know why and you should, too. Often, it is the simplest ideas that create the most dysfunction in a society. I am so ready to fight the good fight alongside Kamala and all women (and men) who care about women’s bodies, a positive future for their children, and always moving this country forward..forward..forward—never backwards.
Copyright © 2024 by Jacqueline E Hughes
All rights reserved
