#AtoZChallenge: D is for Drawing the Line

You don’t have to be a star, baby, to be in my show. 🎶

Note: This post comes from a prompt in the book 300 Writing Prompts. On a flight from Charlotte to Phoenix last June, I asked the girl in the seat next to me to choose a prompt from the book for me to write about.

When I finished, the topic sparked an interesting conversation I’ll never forget.

The prompt:

Are there any lines that you simply will not cross?

Yes – although I can’t promise I never have, or I never will.

I’d never wear a Raiders hat. In fact, I prefer if a player comes to the Denver Broncos from Oakland, he spends a season somewhere else – kind of like a quarantine period. Same for lakers, Dodgers, and red wings.

Although, I once wore a Dodgers cap for a few months.

I gave Hayden the choice of the coolest bandages she needed to cover incisions after her knee surgery. She drew the line at Paw Patrol. We went more fierce.

Why’d ya do it?

I bought it at a gas station near Campbell University while I was in college, on a road trip with the UNC Charlotte volleyball team. They weren’t as hated back then. The Dodgers, not the UNC Charlotte volleyball team.

I’d wear the tar heels if one of my daughters played for the University of North Carolina. Anson Dorrance knocking at the door? That baby blue would itch, but not for long if a Pacheco wound up on their roster.

I won’t disparage my country or its leader. As a centrist who hates the turmoil of the past 10 years, I’m in favor of the principles that make our country great. Also, bald eagles, apple pie, baseball and Hope Solo.

I will not strike anyone in anger – although if you try to steal my pizza … well, still no strike, but my eyebrow will furrow.  

Plus, self-defense. (Even higher than pizza defense.)

I couldn’t swindle someone.

I won’t (usually) resort to road rage beyond the universal gesture for think!! Or shh. (Hushing an angry motorist might be worse than the middle finger, I’ve found.) I won’t do anything that would compromise my family.

The trouble with the moral due north

I won’t help someone steal, no matter how dreamy she is.

(I am prone to walk off with beer glasses and the occasional mini iron skillet from a fancy uptown restaurant which won’t be named. My moral compass goes haywire when it comes to restaurant ware.)

I won’t act out against my principles of kindness and charity, no matter what.

Unless it involves tacos. There’s always a tacos clause. Although, mostly, tacos are surrounded by kindness and charity. You can’t easily separate these elements, like trying to take the garlic salt out of the guacamole after the fact.

Anyone else ready for lunch?

I also won’t ever, ever write as a blogger but not READ as a blogger. That’s the most important part. It’s one of the things I love about the #AtoZChallenge – reading blogs I know and blogs I’ve just come to know.

Still ready for lunch.

What about you? Are there lines you wouldn’t cross?

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A to Z Challenge:

A is for Almost (and also At Last)

B is for Baggett (as in Laura, the actress, and #GirlsRock interview)

C is for Cursive, Cats, and Chinese Restaurants (Go Ask Daddy about them)

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