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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  • Tune up

    “One of the best parts of the concert is when the orchestra tunes up their instruments,” said Silas. “It hides the frenzy backstage, but hints at it when the squawks and squeaks get flung from the pit to the back of the house.”  “The more frenetic the tune up, the bigger the tribute the director,”… Read more

  • Stella’s Walk

    Stella felt like she walked to the door of an open plane. She was terrified of heights, two miles was a long way to fall. Her walk was short today, less than fifty feet, and she didn’t have to take it, not really. Maybe she wouldn’t. She could turn around. Her friends that surrounded her… Read more

  • Exerpt from Mark Twain’s War Prayer

    Mark Twain’s “War Prayer”. It’s not for everyone. It’s not sweet nor is it funny. Lots of folks don’t even like it. “Lord our Father, our young patriots, idols of our hearts, go forth into battle — be Thou near them! With them — in spirit — we also go forth from the sweet peace… Read more

  • Mom’s Road Trip, Revisted

    Mom lost her mind and married Roebuck. None of the kids could stand him, but she was entitled to her midlife crisis, same as anyone else. Since his house burned down on their first date, something about gunpowder gun cleaning equipment and an explosion, such a catastrophe, that they moved to Texas soon after they… Read more

  • Lotsa Dollar Surprise

    I left the windows on the car open when it got hot in the summer. Mom and Dad always did, so I figured I better too. The car was so hot a dog would have died if I’d have left it in there, a kid would have too, open windows or not. Our parents left… Read more

  • Hollers

    I am from hollersCreativity is shunnedDo what you are told 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…