The Younger Years- Forward
For those who have read my earlier book, You’re Getting Better Every Day, you may think this book is about me and my earlier years, before for the underage drinking car crash altered my life forever. However, I am a firm believer in events happening for a reason, or at least giving us the excuse to pursue other avenues which wouldn’t have been done otherwise. I wrote this book, The Younger Years, to remind people, more-so-me, to appreciate the little things in life. Managing life as a Traumatic Brain Injury survivor, along with the addition of two kids and a husband and the work is…..difficult. Add a divorce, new husband, new house, new location, two dogs, two cats, two rats, two rabbits, four fish and…..well….life becomes chaos. All-too-often, I’m reminded by the sudden realization that each day is a gift. Attending my step-daughter’s play a few years ago, I was reminded to just breathe. Throughout any ordeal in life, any circumstance which you find difficult, just breathe. Breathing reminds you that you’re alive and forces you to re-access situations you’re dealing with.
As my other daughters are now ages 10 and 12, moving into bigger schools and facing bigger issues, I want to remember and appreciate these younger years. Life is making time difficult to catch these days but once caught, stories like these will not be forgotten.
Enjoy!
Guilty As Charged Written by Sarah V. Hayes
All day, I’ve felt like I’d been carrying a bowling ball in my stomach. A rotating ball: combined with hunger pains, cramps, swollen feet, week knees and aching hip bones/joints that feel like they don’t belong to me. Normally, I have a difficult time following a conversation but compounded with the monthly asteroid effects of the so-called “normal” feminine menstrual cycle, and it becomes not only impossible, but extremely quizzical to react to such confrontation. So, I prefer to just stay mute (which is easier said than done in most situations). Consider the act of silence, a work-in-progress.
I’m sure most remember Snoopy’s “mute” teacher, Mrs. Donovan from the Charlie Brown series. Nobody could understand her as she stated…”blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” Like the cartoon, my house suddenly became a scene from the show. In my case though, the voices were coming from my two kids.
Now, I had always been a good student; showed up on time, listened to and followed directions and received, relatively, good grades. Now, I feel roles have suddenly changed and I have become a magician. “Whatever I say, you do.” More like a game of Simon Says, my children will listen to me (hypothetically, or magically, speaking. The truth is though, at some point, all parents become like Mrs. Donovan….”Blah, blah, blah, blah.”)
Right now, though, all I’m able to do is focus on how miserable I’m feeling. But being a day before school vacation, and the questions keep coming at me like darts being thrown at a dartboard. And I’m the dartboard. Miraculously, I’m still standing.
“Listen to this drama,” one tells me, as the other is asking if she can spend the night at a friend’s house. “And guess what happened today?” one shouted as if I was a mile away. Meanwhile, our two dogs are playing tag around the kitchen-island. The English Mastiff can’t help but run into my legs forcing me to hunch over to quell the pain.
Without noticing, one of the kids asks, “Can I have Bella spend the night?”
Then the other kid chimes in and asks, “Can Ava spend the night on Saturday and I go to her house Sunday? Oh, and don’t forget we have to go shopping on Sunday!”
Which brings me to the question that was asked before I stood frozen like a deer-in-the-headlights. The question also gave me fuel to write this story, so I shouldn’t complain.
In her deep and forceful voice, the youngest says, “Oh…and can you NOT have her friend ride my bike?”
Silence.
Busted…and guilty.
I looked at my husband. More of a demand than a question, I yelled, “Can everyone just go DO something!”
To Slumber, written by Sarah V. Hayes
For me, I write. For my kids, I write. For their stories, I tell.
I like great days. I like occupied days. I like busy days. But today, a day where I can sit on the couch with the warmth beating down upon me, is a much-needed day.
I knew it the moment I awoke. As I was making the bed; pulling the covers and sheets up to their nearly flat and unruffled, untwisted position, how comforting it would feel to climb back in and immerse myself beneath the warmth of the electric blanket.
Yes, it was one of those days. I could barely keep my eyelids open.
I knew I must have dreamt last night. I could remember the still, vivid pictures and details in my head.
Any night is a good night to dream; even better are the mornings to reminisce, especially because the act of doing so (dreaming) rarely happens to me.
I resist such urge (to fall back into slumber).
Indifferently, I resist less and less (these days).
I no longer fight, against my body.
I listen to my temple; what it needs to survive.
If I need to eat, I eat.
If I need to sleep, I sleep.
If I need to write, I write.
While I lay comfortably upon the surface of the couch, with my dog snuggling upon me, my eyes fall heavier and heavier to the floor.
I sleep.
Then I write, for me.
Because it’s my story
They will want to hear, someday.
My Animal Kingdom
It all started when Queen Latifa (our dog Lucy) was greeted by the horse (our dog Milo, aka Smalls). There was no way of knowing what would happen next. He (Milo) pranced, pawed and maneuvered in circles around her until she finally gave in. At this point, one of two events were bound to occur. The horse was either going to violently injure the queen using his repetitive attempts to gain her attention or the task of aerobic exercise would last indefinitely.
Quite likely, as has been the case in the past, the latter is likely to occur. Sure enough, after a minute of relentless play-with-me, here-I-am, let’s-do-trick’s, I’m-your-new-friend attitude, Smalls finally gets the hint and lies down, momentarily. Until Bella (the I’m-Holier-Than-Thou cat) struts by, he suddenly becomes a slingshot being let loose.
Poor Bella, for there is nowhere in the house she can hide from these lunatics, except one place. She dives under the only safe place she knows- the couch. Like a lion vying for its prey, two small eyes appear from beneath the large structure. The taunting devil pokes a paw out in the daylight, risking her ambivalent thoughts towards Milo. “Maybe, just maybe,” she thinks he will play a game of hide-and-seek or catch-me-if-you-can. However, Milo thinks partaking in such antics would definitely label his as the loser and instead decides to pick on one smaller than he is, as in the bunny.
After realizing a bunny is no match at all, he moved onto the rats. Being divided by such metal confines, he is only able to stare and sniff. He barks at his frustration as he just wants someone to play with. Fearing for their lives/safety, they scurry to the far corner of the inside of their cage. Either Milo will cause the rats to have a heart attack or me to have an aneurism. I tell him to pick on someone his own size and realize Queen Latifah has already had her chance. Defeated by such deranged and crazed antics, Milo has nothing else to do but see if he can spark some interest in the fish.
Leaping on the couch, where he is now the same height with the fish tank, he looks in with sorrow. “At least these four fish can play together,” he sighs. As depression, or hunger, undecidedly kicks in, he sticks his tongue out and licks the fish tank.
Thank God those fish were confined because there was no way of knowing what would have happened. Although, the horse would have been satisfied with his easy prey and delectable meal.
Who says to pick on someone your own size? At least if the catch is easy, there aren’t any squabbling noise disturbances for the onlookers, the animal kingdom says, it’s feast-or-famine!
Teen Saves Teens in Car Plunge
Corion Evans was honored for his actions by Mayor Billy Knight.
It’s funny that when detailing significant accomplishments from others, one easily resorts to research the famous, events, news and the like inside the public eye. However, it’s truly the actions we aspire to that make one famous.
What makes you jump out of bed each morning? What makes you put one foot in front of the other? What makes you compelled to do what you want to do?
Just ask 16 year-old, Corion Evans, who took a plunge in the alligator infested river to save the lives of three teenage girls.
Evans, along with his brothers, Caleb and Karon, were just hanging out in a parking area beneath a Mississippi highway, when a sedan propelled itself off a boat ramp into the Pascagoula River.
It was 2:30 in the morning when he could hear the desperate cries of three girls clinging to the roof of the car; the only part of the car that was above water. Evans quickly threw his cell phone, shirt and shoes to the ground and dove into the water.
Evans helped the first girl he saw, keeping her head above water and leading her to shore.
Just then, Police Officer Garry Mercer had arrived. He dove into the water to help another girl but, after pulling her halfway back to shore, the girl panicked and went underwater, pulling the officer down with her. Again, Evans came to the rescue and helped them come to a stand.
19 year-old, Cora Watson was still left in the water. Watson did not know how to swim. She struggled to stay afloat while gulping water. As she inhaled what she thought was her last breath, Evans had grabbed her and brought her safely back to shore.
The three girls and the officer were brought to the hospital and released.
“They’re alive”, says mother, Marquita Evans, because Corion Evans broke his curfew.
But she’s not mad, she told the Post. “He had a good reason.”
Read more about this story at Reader’s Digest.
A Disability Is an Inspiration
Remember Jeff Daniel’s who portrayed The Blue Man in the movie, 5 People You Meet In Heaven? The Blue Man’s story was that he had ingested too much silver nitrate hoping it would calm his anxious thoughts. Instead, the solution turned his skin blue. Similarly, while reading an article from Reader’s Digest titled “Joshua Miele: Inspiration from an Unthinkable Crime”, Miele’s was attacked with sulfuric acid at age four. The liquid turned his skin brown and left him blind.
Nearby hospitals didn’t have the ability to effectively deal with Miele’s situation. “The intern explained that only the military had the ability to deal with the kind of burn injury that Josh had,” stated Reader’s Digest. After contacting the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, he was transported by helicopter to Maguire Airforce Base in New Jersey.
While the movie and book, 5 People You Meet In Heaven is fictitious, the story of Josh Miele’s is not. Miele’s story is real and thus he lives with the consequences each day.
For reasons of insanity, based on paranoia schizophrenia, the neighbor who committed the crime, Basilio Bousa, 24, at the time, was found not guilty. Later, he died of emphysema.
Miele’s father and mother had eventually separated.
Often times, when neighborhood children would see Miele playing with his sister, they would cry and scream, “Mommy! A monster!” His brother would often get into fistfights with those who negatively commented on Josh’s appearance.
Though Miele had a newfound disability, he learned to read Braille and went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in physics and a PhD in psychoacoustics from the University of California, Berkeley. A highly intelligent man, he helped blind people navigate computer-based software programs. “He developed software for the Mars Observer for NASA. He is the president of the board of directors of the San Francisco LightHouse for the Blind, he plays bass in a band and he works as an associate scientist at the nonprofit Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute,” says Reader’s Digest.
Clearly, a disability does not have to hinder one’s achievements.
Radiate Niceness
Ever heard of niceness radiating from people? Through all my writings, so far, I have been leaving out what matters most? We are bombarded each day of the wrong-doing’s of our society; politically and socially. Hearing me talk about my daily life is just boring. Why not talk about, and honor those who truly deserve the attention? I’m talking about folks like Aaron Schultz, 19, and Madonna White, 67.
Schultz, a Kirkwood Community College student located in Iowa City, Iowa, was visiting the gravestone of his neighbor who deceased in 2021. While there, Schultz couldn’t help but notice the dirt, grime and wear of other headstones. Those ranging from the Civil War and other battles, for example. “They gave their lives to serve this country, and I feel that needs to be honored,” Schultz told KCRG-TV news (Readers Digest). For those gravestones belonging to civilians from an older time period, where dirt and grime is expected, he wanted to preserve their headstones to their original state.
Schultz purchased cleaning solutions used at Arlington National Cemetery and set-forth on his quest. He cleaned off headstones using scrapers to remove the mold and grime, bringing them back to their original appearance.
Schultz posted his efforts on social media and a woman named Madonna White, 67, took notice. “White has family members who served in the military,” (says Readers Digest). The two agreed about the importance of preserving the stones at the cemetery and so far, have cleaned over 100 headstones.
The pair have had great conversations while taking part in this positive action. Do you have a similar story of people pursuing similar positive actions? Please share by responding to this in my USandMOM wordpress account!
A Sonnet- almost
In a world where screens monopolize day to day activities (from online banking to online grocery shopping), I just want to break the norm. I’ve been told that you have to be the change you want to see in this world. So, I’m breaking the mold.
I’m going out on a limb. I’m bringing the stranded carts in the parking lot inside to the store. I’m driving a friend to work (at night) because the headlight in her car doesn’t work. I’ve paid for the persons order behind me in the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru.
In a world where we try so hard to make it, to “fit in” with the mold; to succeed, to overcome, to be someone, is the utmost challenge. Me?
I just want to survive. I want to breath; I want to feel my heartbeat. I want to feel my face tighten as my smile grins from ear to ear. (And if my face is grinning because I don’t understand my online bank statement, so be it.)
I want to be the one with the café-late in the morning, the Macchiato in the afternoon and the glass of wine after dinner (that’s a lot of calories, though).
I want to know where life is taking me; I want to know what tomorrow brings me.
Us and Mom 