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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  • Didactic

    “Didactic,” something that teaches a lesson. I’ve said that “didactic,” was my favorite word for years. and there are people who will verify this. I’ve been a teacher forever, I can only deny so many things. I  just looked up a bunch of synonyms for it in Thesaurus.com… Academic, pedantic, homelitic, moralizing, pedagogic, schoolmasterist, why… Read more

  • Grateful Right Now

    Right this very minute I am most grateful for my freedom. It makes me glad I signed up to be a teacher. Summer makes the stress of the stupidity I put up with for seven and a half months a year worth it.  I schedule important events on my summer calendar. If it doesn’t get… Read more

  • Avenue of the Olive Trees

    Avenue of the Olive Trees, Henri Matisse “The shadows are ripe,” she said, and one floated across her face. The clouds were out, tap dancing back and forth between the leaves and branches and the sun. True. They were dark and deep big green shadows on the ground from the ancient limbs, Giant, strong, and… Read more

  • Rumors

    While it’s true that a whole lot of rumors are made up on the spot, some of them are as true as they can be. This time of year always causes me to think about the kids I’ve heard about after they graduate. I taught middle school. Those kids don’t come back, not many anyway.… Read more

  • Zoom Nap

    The writing prompt was something about standing in line at Walmart when your eyes saw your sibling/twin’s face for the first time. That’s what my memory was left with. I know the prompt was about a line and a long lost sibling. I decided to go with the twin theme. I always go with twin… Read more

  • Putting it off…

    Putting it off… Once, I was a fashion plate. I dressed in incredible clothes that I designed and made myself. I’d stay up into the wee hours sewing complicated patterns with facings, buttons, zippers, lots of handwork, and they were amazing. Designer clothes. Beautiful work. When I got pregnant with twins, that shit stopped cold… 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…