#AtoZChallenge: L is for Life of Pi, largeness, and whether I like Britney Spears 🐠

Daniel Cheung photo (Upsplash)

Let’s see how many words starting with the letter L I can let loose in this lead-in, and shift this losing landscape. (I’ve lost lots of time in the #AtoZChallenge. I’d like to at least land this post later tonight.)

Leave it to me to lag behind for so long.

I’ve not had to learn to labor about lies to myself about why I linger. Is my lateness a lifestyle flaw or lack of preventing leaks? In light of how lonely writing can look, let’s leave well enough alone. 

So I’ll limit this lecture and let you in the loop past this lengthy lead-up, and let’s click the link live link below. (I love that I got 37 words from the L list loaded with literature (now 40!)

#AtoZChallenge: I is for Inspiration 👩‍🎤

I’ve always been a David Henry Thoreau guy. 

It began in college. Because of course, it did. I read Walden and connected with a man in the wilderness with a plan and a journal.

His quotes hit home and his logic made sense.

His quotes have stood as the ones that inspire me most. It’s the one I’d write down, live by, try and impress the girls with. (As if.) 

#AtoZChallenge: H is for Hayden, headphones, and happy hour #GratitudeAndShit 🎧

Just grateful to be kicking it with Western Conference All-Stars.

Is it possible that being grateful that I’m not THAT far behind in life sounds sarcastic?

Or that I’m grateful the Rockies haven’t lost ALL their games? Or that the pollen hasn’t ACTUALLY killed me? These are all viable items of gratitude if you ask me.

It’s the day for giving thanks for stuff in my life so let’s get on with it. Oh, crap. Today has to start with Hs, too.

🌲 #GirlsRock: An interview with educator/organizer/naturalist/graduate degree candidate Chelsea Sloggy

Photo by Hayden Pacheco

I met Chelsea Sloggy in a coffee shop.

That might sound odd to those who know me and my Coke Zero ways, but I’ve been in a lot of coffee shops in the past year or so. That’s where realtors like to meet, and I meet realtors to write freelance stories for a local magazine.

I’d just wrapped up an interview and stopped to sugar up my cup – and 30 minutes later, I had a new friend after an intriguing conversation.

Chelsea is an enthusiastic environmental educator, community organizer, and naturalist. I stole that from her LinkedIn profile because I struggled to categorize her with any semblance of brevity. She cares a lot, she does a lot, and she teaches.

😬 10 things grateful: Tranquility, good friends, and the moment the pieces fit #GratitudeAndShit

Madison took this stormtrooper photo the same day at Kings Mountain as Hayden did. Very similar pictures! I’ll use one Camdyn took next time.

I’m usually better at this.

You know. Staying in the present. It’s how I’ve managed to keep the train on the tracks when all else fails. I remind friends of this when they cling to the past or fret about the future. Frame where you are now, and be fully in it.

If one of those friends said that to me now, back, I’d see how impossible it feels.

Madison is moving to California next month. I’ll take a 40-hour road trip with my oldest and her cat, Munch. I wake up at 4 a.m. every day worried about it. But I’m getting better. She’s excited. I’m excited for her, and I’ll work extra hard to buy plane tickets to visit her early and often.

🍊 Go ask daddy about citrus, illegal substances (again) and a rare crowning moment in my sporting life

Hayden took this during our day at King’s Mountain.

Remember Jurassic Park?

Not the first one. One of the last ones. Maybe the last one. There was this epic battle between the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex (sorry, my generation gave the big guy his due – no T-Rex) battled a mega super ultra mean swole somethingasaurus.

I kept thinking, what could they possibly do to top that?

And then this sea monster pops up and eats that bastard like he’s a potsticker. That’s kind of how 2020 is feeling right about now. You think you’ve wrapped your mind around your circumstance, and then … well, sea monsters.

✍️ 300 Writing Prompts: Favorite work of art

I had an appreciation for an art appreciation prof.

Call it a crush if you must. But I have never had perfect attendance in any course I took in college, except for hers. I appreciated art, too, but I appreciated how she delivered it. And, you know, her.

Anyway, why fuss over the details?

I used to go to all the Saturday extra-credit visits she’d set up at the local museums. All the other boys were there, too. Some girls, too. But through all the haziness, the experience also enhanced my love of art, of all forms.

#AtoZChallenge: 🧲 V is for the various roles I play

I considered making a business card for myself.

You know, one that would have all the stuff I do. So I typed it all out. And it turns out, I’d have to reduce the font size to 0.0003 points, or expand the card to 37 cubic yards.

We have roles, y’all.

But there’s got to be one that stands out. That defines you, as much as you want a role to define you. At least, be the color you color with. A writing prompt in that book 300 Writing Prompts takes on this issue. And with help from my flying friend, Jeffrey, I took it on. (He doesn’t have wings, but he did sit next to me on the plane.)

🖕 #AtoZChallenge: M is for middle finger, mercy rules, and mating (Go Ask Daddy)

So, there’s a story I want to tell and I don’t care if you judge.

One of my kids made a gesture at the TV yesterday that told a story. We’ve navigated this lockdown like good astronauts (minus zero gravity and Tang.) But as my girls worked on a puzzle during a Hulu session of Malcolm in the Middle, an ad came on and triggered her.

Social distancing doesn’t have to mean we have to be distant socially, the sugary-voiced lady was saying to promote something I can’t even remember.

Instinctively, a middle finger arose. She didn’t even look up from the puzzle. I said nothing. I get it. Social listening data tells us that people love ads like this. They want to know corporate America is in it with us. That they’re doing their part.

📗 #AtoZChallenge: L is for learn

My friend Brittany gave me a book called 300 Writing Prompts. 

I take it with me on flights. If it isn’t too wacky (or sometimes even if it is), I’ll ask the person next to me to pick a prompt for me to write about while we’re flying. Sometimes, I just pick one.

The one I’ll use today is one I picked.

It’s about stuff we should learn in school. I feel like there are some things we learn (or struggle to learn, often in my case) that would be better serve being replaced. There are things I’d like to have learned, but didn’t.