athesaurus.com

…breathe deeply and often…

  • There are too many imperfections that bleed over into ugly…

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  • I nodded my thanks and gave each kid a sticker of their choosing. I have ten thousand stickers, it’s the least I can do. 

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  • adoxography

    Hope is what people “hang on to,” whatever that means, when they know they’ve lost but are stubborn and want to disappoint themselves.

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  • Living or Waiting?

    I’m reading. Is that waiting to die or living?  

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  • Shawn will always be one of my kids, even though he’s been a grown-assed man for at least thirty years now. I remember certain students for random reasons. Shawn was a twin, a brilliant one. Blonde, nice looking, a sweeter young man with manners you’d never meet. He was a creative writer, but he’d never…

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  • Multiples

    I don’t know what kind of magic is in a twin, but I know there’s more power in it than science can explain.

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  • Big Tears…

    He was matter of fact, but I was shaking in my boots. I didn’t see this day coming so soon.

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  • Late at night, when Abe took off his hat, he crumbled like a cookie in a coffee cup of doubt.

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  • My trip ended too quickly, but before it did, I made a crucial but wonderful mistake.

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  • Fire

    I learned a long time ago to hide the things you want most, for those will be taken from you first.

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  • Crop Circles

    The aliens are here. How do you know? I saw the crop circles. Don’t be stupid. There are no such thing as crop circles. Yes there are. It’s where their mothership lands and makes a funky pattern on the ground. See? No. Jeb went out last night with his tractor and did that so the… Read more

  • Ask, I Dare you

    Iwish thatI had patience but I know better than to ask for itto help me get just that.Patience has to come from trials and not something that is freely given.It is earned, learned, made, muddled, and messed up.Never ask God for patience. He’ll test you instead. Read more

  • Inertia

    Whatever you practice you get better at. You have to run four miles a day to run four  miles a day. If you want to make puff pastry, you have to make puff pastry. It’s not something you just get up one morning and do. It takes time and error. It’s simple, but complicated.   You… Read more

  • Water Wings

    Water Wings “Let go,” he said. He trusted his water wings as much as he trusted me in the deep end under the lifeguard stand. I wasn’t sure I heard him right. There was so much noise around us. Splashing, water falling, kids screaming. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear him right. He was… Read more

  • I’m Fine

    “How are you?” she asked. That’s always a loaded question. Who asks it gets a different version of the truth of it. The answer is most usually the first lie of the day. “Fine.” I’m scared. I’m worried for my life. I am worried for my son’s life. He’s working on his master’s in grad… Read more

  • The Mighty Oak

    The Mighty Oak Although it is true that it looked easy, swinging off a rope ain’t what it’s cracked up to be. It takes more engineering and logic than some people have to make it work right.   When the dirt road was eye level to the best swinging branch of the giant oak tree, Alan… Read more

  • There are too many imperfections that bleed over into ugly…

    Read more

  • I nodded my thanks and gave each kid a sticker of their choosing. I have ten thousand stickers, it’s the least I can do. 

    Read more

  • adoxography

    Hope is what people “hang on to,” whatever that means, when they know they’ve lost but are stubborn and want to disappoint themselves.

    Read more

  • Living or Waiting?

    I’m reading. Is that waiting to die or living?  

    Read more

  • Shawn will always be one of my kids, even though he’s been a grown-assed man for at least thirty years now. I remember certain students for random reasons. Shawn was a twin, a brilliant one. Blonde, nice looking, a sweeter young man with manners you’d never meet. He was a creative writer, but he’d never…

    Read more

  • Multiples

    I don’t know what kind of magic is in a twin, but I know there’s more power in it than science can explain.

    Read more

  • Big Tears…

    He was matter of fact, but I was shaking in my boots. I didn’t see this day coming so soon.

    Read more

  • Late at night, when Abe took off his hat, he crumbled like a cookie in a coffee cup of doubt.

    Read more

  • My trip ended too quickly, but before it did, I made a crucial but wonderful mistake.

    Read more

  • Fire

    I learned a long time ago to hide the things you want most, for those will be taken from you first.

    Read more


  • The Last of the Three Wishes

    The genie granted me three wishes and of course the first two came true in a blaze of glory. He told me to be wise with my wishes and I felt that I was, foolishment was meant for sissies, I wanted all my wishes to mean something. To be granted wishes was nothing to sneeze…

  • The Accident

    The first job Lucy had was in Brunetti’s Family Restaurant waiting tables, fast paced and busy. You had to be light on your feet and quick in your head to keep up with the baked steak and chicken and dumplin’s coming out of the kitchen. Who got iced tea with lemon and who didn’t mattered…

  • Remote Learning

    With rigid rigor, the school board called a two hour delay for students in ice and snow before any roads had even been treated after an all night snow storm. Employees were to report on time. In an abrupt change of plans, half  an hour before school was supposed to begin, a remote day was…

  • Hand me downs

    “Let’s go to Goodwill,” said Ian. “I need to get Mom a birthday present.” He knew there was nothing I wanted more than an antique butter dish with a lid, and the best place to find it was at a thrift shop. Goodwill came to his mind first. Thrift shops carried specialty items. Like the…

  • Vocabulary Promise

    The truth is a burning promise I have to live up to or lie about. Truth comes in lots of flavors. It’s easier to lie and ignore what’s in front of me sometimes. Knowing what I have to do to live up to the standards of school, or home, or law. I’d rather live one…