Home At Last...My Story Continues

Rev. 19:1 “ And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:”

Home at last...

Driving home for the first time in twenty days felt strange as I had not really been in the outside air except for the three-minute drive from nursing home to the hospital across the road. I opened the window and let the cool breeze kiss my face as the sun hugged me, welcoming me. Yes, there was sun instead of clouds on this day of my release from rehab.

I was a little nervous heading home because I had no idea what uncertainty was going to meet me at the door. All I knew was that it was home, and I was finally going there, a safe haven in which to rest. What felt like months in the hospital being shuffled from hospital to nursing home, to radiation on my leg, to the primary doctor and back to the hospital, it was all coming to a nerve-wracking end because I’d have to trust my husband on a different level more than anything right now.

My husband had been put through the wringer, thrown in the dryer and left there to wrinkle. In other words, this man was frazzled beyond recognition. I could see him in there but his mind, it looked as if it had been thrown in the frying pan and left to sizzle. No one noticed this, not his mother, his sister, no one but me and my son because we had to deal with him daily.  He was forgetful, distant at times, and extremely self-centered. He was trying to regain control of the world he lost,  something that looked normal but he knew, that time was a ways off in the months that lie ahead.

In the twenty days I was in the hospital he had locked his keys in the car at least three times, he had forgotten what I asked for from home almost daily and he had slept on the hard hospital sofa for ten days, not wanting to leave me alone in the hospital but was made to leave me in a nursing home and that laid guilt on him. I’m not telling you this so you can laugh and make fun, I’m sharing this because here was a dedicated-to-his-wife man, who had very recently put his dog to rest, now made to deal with his wife, not being the beautiful dependable homemaker that he fell in love with. He was wearing thin on many levels and it hurt me to watch.

Now he was driving me home where my care would be solely left up to him. Sure, a home healthcare nurse would come by twice a week, but as you know, there are seven days in a week. I  believe any man would be anxious in this situation where twenty days ago he didn’t know if his wife was going to live or die, it looked that grim from their perspectives. Sure his mom would offer to make a meal or two, but he needed more, more that none of us could give.

Now sitting in front of the house drew tears from my eyes like water from a well. I was no longer looking out a window hoping and praying, I was home, prayers answered. The tears flowed effortlessly before I even tried getting out of the car. Hubby was removing the wheelchair from the trunk, my son came from inside offering to help and I just wanted to sit there in the car and drink the reality of it all in. “Why not unload the car and let me sit here a few minutes?”

They complied and began carrying in vases and stuffed animals, blankets and clothes, boxes and bows. I was home. The shabby little rental house isn’t all that much to look at, but it has been my home for ten years, one where I made it a flower-rimmed home that even the owner of the property had mentioned how well tended this place was. Amazing what love can turn into beauty in the midst of ugly. I was home.

I called out to Riley, the dog who wandered onto the property two years ago as a stray and never left. Riley, who was nowhere to be seen, nor had been for some days the guys said. I called out and told her to come home, I’m here. She would come eventually, she always does. The guys said that when they put food out for her, it disappeared, but they never really caught a glimpse of her. 

I had to swing my pained legs out the door. I would need to get back into the car on Friday and all the days of doctor visits, so this has to go well! I pivoted to the wheelchair, gently sat, and after taking a deep inhale was pushed forward up my RAMP, that my bro-in-law built with no questions asked (or funds for that matter!)

Once safely in the front door, my eyes opened to a cascade of tears, I just sat and bawled my eyes out, crying, “I’m home! I’m home!” There was joy and fear, anxiety and pain but there was also my Lord waiting to carry any burden I brought home with me. 

I’ll continue this story in the coming weeks as I continue healing but today being New Year's Eve, you need to know how far I’ve come and am at on this day, two short months since I was released from what I deemed ‘the hellholes’!

My cancer markers have gone down drastically, leaving the doctors scratching their heads in amazement. The markers began in September at 2775, dropped in October to 1500, then to 875 in November! What do they mean? Cancer no longer likes living in my body- for now, I move on.

When I was released from rehab on October 5th, I was on a strict no weight-bearing regimen! I could not put any weight on my left leg and minimal on my right! 
Today, I still use the wheelchair but I walk with a walker (in the house and at physical therapy) and have just started practicing with a cane! 

My doctors, plural, have admitted that it was not just the oral-chemo that has had this miraculous change in my healing. Whatever I was doing (alternatively) was obviously in play here and working on healing me! 

The radiation I received for ten days was to my femur where they said cancer had spread, radiation zapped it away. More astonishing to the doc’s was the rare way my body was handling everything. No vomiting, eating regularly, no diarrhea, no pink peeling skin, no mouth sores, no fevers, etc. I was what the nurse said, “Our poster child for what stage 4 cancer healing SHOULD look like!" Words like awesome, amazing, fascinating were frequently heard with each office visit or from anyone I came in contact with really.

This weekend for the first time in three months, I reclaimed my home! Taking my time and being ever so cautious, I dusted and vacuumed, washed, dried, folded and put away two loads of laundry. I’m releasing my husband of those duties and hopefully, he can find healing also. 

What do I say is my source of healing? My God! Simply put, my AMAZING GOD! Prayer and the support of my friends and family. I never allowed my faith to wane, my trust in the Lord grew stronger. Through each pain, every sorrowful step that brought tears to my eyes, I cried out louder to my God, Thank you, Jesus! 

Now, what do I see for the NEW YEAR? My faith growing even stronger, my sharing of this miraculous healing with any and all, and I see the colors of the rainbow flourishing in my garden this spring. I see me walking around the house talking to my animals and giving my Riley plenty of belly rubs! Yes, she appeared when she sensed I was home. (It didn’t take too long)

I’m home… home at last! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR, my Spiritual Family! I could’ve never made it without your continued prayers and support!

Pss. 30:2 “O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.”

A Friend to the End...

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

A Friend to the End…

I first met Benning in 2003 during my first F2K class. We were not supposed to wander the rooms but the rebel in me had me wandering and I run into him. He called me ‘toots’ our very first meeting and I’ve liked him ever since.(an endearing name he calls many)

He didn’t chastise me for wandering, instead he said I’d make a good mentor and that is when my mentoring days began and a friendship blossomed! My writing was taking off but I was finding more joy in teaching, helping and learning along the way.

I eventually became a lifetime member of WVU thanks to Mr. Hembree and by this time more and more friendships were just the seeds I needed to add to my flourishing garden. Benning and I were mentor’s on many levels, sharing tips, pointing out each others wrongs and rights but each day, each passing week, our friendship was growing forming a special bond.

Something happened a few years back that I won’t regurgitate, but I was no longer a mentor and instead of Benning just letting me go and wallow in my own self-pity party, he joined me and stood by when it was one of the most difficult times in my writing career. That’s just the kind of guy he is though. I thought I was special but guess what, each and every person who knows him thinks they’re special too, and I bet they are to him, in their own way.

Through PM’s, emails and facebook we never let our friendship go sour. We’ve had bickers and bites, and many food fights, but at the end of the day, we each wished each other well and rose the next day to banter all over again.

I never took him for a ‘bible’ toting kind of guy, but a year or so ago, like me he began posting scripture. I always got on him about before you post it be sure you live it first. You know, a sort of practice what you preach kind of thing? I think this was his way of getting in tune with God. I was really glad to see this growing change in him.

I remember a time when he went almost a year without the internet, did THAT hinder our friendship? No way. He’d go to the library almost everyday, to get a book of course, AND to drop me an email asking me how I was doing and letting me know how he was doing. Yup, our friendship just kept growing and growing.

So here I sit today missing my friend and his banter. You see, he had a heart attack a little over a week ago and it called for immediate surgery. A week after his surgery he is still on oxygen after being incoherent for a week and just yesterday he was taken out of the Critical Care Unit and put into his own room.

Still not running the halls and causing a ruckus, (which I’m sure he’ll be doing soon!) this is a step in the right direction and I await the day I get an update from his family saying, “He walked and talked today.” Or better yet, “He’s out of the hospital and is resting at home.” Well he won’t be resting at HIS home but his folks’ place since he needs SOMEONE to take care of him.

This is a man who always goes out of his way to make everyone else smile, a man who shares happy faces and emoticons as if it was bread for the day’s meal. He’s a happy go lucky guy now in the hands of the Lord who is walking him through a healing journey. One we’ve all taken at some point in our lives but now it is his turn.

After he returns to the virtual world (six weeks or more) and he weeds through the many, many well wishes on his facebook wall, sorts through emails and Get Well cards, he’ll come here and read this blog post and know that I will not give up on him and allow him to wallow in any form of self-pity, I am his best friend and his friend until the end. It’s amazing to see what a little writing journey for me brought into my life for a lifetime. I miss ya, Ben! Get Well Soon!

Thank you Lord.

Mark 5:19 Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee.

 

 

Quotation Saturday

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

After the week I’ve had, the one thing I cherished was the thought that my friends were out there somewhere, missing me as much as I missed them. ~ Joni

FRIENDS

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.”
~ Henri J.M. Nouwen

“Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
~ Albert Camus

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
~ Mark Twain

“I think if I've learned anything about friendship, it's to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don't walk away, don't be distracted, don't be too busy or tired, don't take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff.”
~ Jon Katz

FRIENDSHIP

“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”
~ Jane Austen

“I would rather walk with a friend in the dark, than alone in the light.”
~ Helen Keller

“Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.”
~ Muhammad Ali

“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?”
~ A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

CHERISH

“Wounds heal. Scars fade. Awful memories can be overwritten with better ones if given the chance. The little imperfections of our psyches become overshadowed by the people whose love we cherish because they cherish us despite our faults; physical, emotional, spiritual, or otherwise. This thing we call the human condition with all its bittersweet blind corners and senseless humor evolves from within ourselves and not because of some pre-ordained reverie we desire to cast in the constellations.
All in all it is what makes life worth living.”
~ August Clearwing

“But for the most part, love is a recognition, an opportunity to say, 'There is something about you I cherish.”
~ Raymond E. Feist

“To love is to accept a soul entirely, not wishing that the person was otherwise, nor hoping for change, nor clinging to some ideal past. To love is to cherish the individual standing before you presently―charms, quirks, and all. To love is to give someone a piece of your heart that you will never, ever reclaim.”
~ Richelle E. Goodrich

“Cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey.”
~ Jack Layton

Quotation Saturday

Hebrews 12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:

FRIENDSHIP

If I take offence easily; if I am content to continue in cold unfriendliness, though friendship be possible, then I know nothing of Calvary love.

~ Amy Carmichael

The good man has his enemies. He would not be like his Lord if he had not. If we were without enemies we might fear that we were not the friends of God, for the friendship of the world is enmity to God.

 ~ Charles Spurgeon

Ah, I have kept Him waiting when I ought not, but He has waited even then. Always waiting – so patient with my foolishness, my weakness, my fear. Our fellowship is with God, and fellowship is friendship, and friendship means that partnership which, on His part, is the accommodating of His strength to my weakness.

~ G. Campbell Morgan

It is one of the severest tests of friendship to tell your friend his faults. So to love a man that you cannot bear to see a stain upon him, and to speak painful truth through loving words, that is friendship.

~  Henry Ward Beecher

The true, the genuine worship is when man, through his spirit, attains to friendship and intimacy with God. True and genuine worship is not to come to a certain place; it is not to go through a certain ritual or liturgy; it is not even to bring certain gifts. True worship is when the spirit, the immortal and invisible part of man, speaks to and meets with God, who is immortal and invisible.

~ William Barclay

God has played an important part of change in me and just when I think I’m changed enough for me, He says, ‘Not me, you need more.’ And then He goes about changing me further. Praise God!

CHANGE

He who shall introduce into public affairs the principles of basic Christianity will change the face of the world.

~ Benjamin Franklin

What you need to do, is to put your will over completely into the hands of your Lord, surrendering to Him the entire control of it. Say, “Yes, Lord, YES!” to everything, and trust Him to work in you to will, as to bring your whole wishes and affections into conformity with His own sweet, and lovable, and most lovely will. It is wonderful what miracles God works in wills that are utterly surrendered to Him. He turns hard things into easy, and bitter things into sweet. It is not that He puts easy things in the place of the hard, but He actually changes the hard thing into an easy one. 

~ Hannah Whitall Smith

Nothing paralyzes our lives like the attitude that things can never change. We need to remind ourselves that God can change things. Outlook determines outcome. If we see only the problems, we will be defeated; but if we see the possibilities in the problems, we can have victory. 

~ Warren Wiersbe

Many times we are content with sitting on the sidelines, always hearing about other’s lives being changed in huge ways and God being so important in their life. We go to church and hear people talk about what God has been doing in their life. We go to events and conferences that we hope will microwave our Christian maturity to well done. We read books on how other’s lives were changed. And that is good enough for us, but deep down inside, we wish we could have that happen in our own life. So we make promises to try harder. We recommit our lives to Jesus. We might begin having devotions more often. But, after a while, the desire dies off and the excitement has turned into duty and we give up. Obedience makes the difference in a life that is sold out for God. It is seeing what God does with our attitude of following what He has in the Bible that brings about change in our hearts and a Christian walk that is on fire. 

~ Zach Conrad

“In the midst of change, God calls me to change more.”

~ Joni

God never said the road to Him was a simple and easy road, just read and believe. He did make it clear that the road was a long and hard one but He’d always be there to guide you.

GODLY

“Faith, as Paul saw it, was a living, flaming thing leading to surrender and obedience to the commandments of Christ.” 

~ A.W. Tozer

“When a man is getting better he understands more and more clearly the evil that is still left in him. When a man is getting worse he understands his own badness less and less.” 

~C.S. Lewis

“I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God; first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done.” 

~ Hudson Taylor

Christians are like the several flowers in a garden that have each of them the dew of Heaven, which, being shaken with the wind, they let fall at each other’s roots, whereby they are jointly nourished, and become nourishers of each other. 

~ John Bunyan

Peace in the Lord washes over me like a fine misty waterfall. I’m surrounded, I’m  bathed, I’m cleansed.

PEACE

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing. 

~ C.S. Lewis

The foundation of the Christian’s peace is everlasting; it is what no time, no change can destroy. It will remain when the body dies; it will remain when the mountains depart and the hills shall be removed, and when the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll. The fountain of His comfort shall never be diminished, and the stream shall never be dried. His comfort and joy is a living spring in the soul, a well of water springing up to everlasting life. 

~ Jonathan Edwards

Resign every forbidden joy; restrain every wish that is not referred to God’s will; banish all eager desires, all anxiety; desire only the will of God; seek him alone and supremely, and you will find peace. 

~ Francois Fenelon

In the midst of the awesomeness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. You know it is not the hand of restraint, correction, nor chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it gives inexpressible peace and comfort, and the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms,” (Deuteronomy 33:27) full of support, provision, comfort and strength. 

~ Oswald Chambers

Quotation Saturday

FRIENDSHIP

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ~ C.S. Lewis

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”
~ Mark Twain

“Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.”
 ~ Albert Camus

“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”
~ Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

WISDOM

“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”
 ~ Aristotle

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
~ Mark Twain

There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must of felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of life.
" Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget, that until the day God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words, 'Wait and Hope.”
~ Alexandre Dumas

“It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”
~ Aristotle, Metaphysics

PEACE

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
~ Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

“An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments With Truth

“When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”
~ Fred Rogers

“Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

INSPIRATION

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”
~ William W. Purkey

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
~Mahatma Gandhi

“Without music, life would be a mistake.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
~ Albert Einstein

True Friends!

3 John 1:14 But I trust I shall shortly see thee, and we shall speak face to face. Peace be to thee. Our friends salute thee. Greet the friends by name.
***

I have friends! Sure I do. I have friends that care and love me; respect and admire me. All not within my grasp, because those within my grasp stay as far away as they possibly can. I remember one of my writing friends telling me, “If they knew you, like we knew you, always caring, loving, giving, sharing...they’d love you as much as we do.”

I’ve been down these passed few weeks and it really has nothing to do with anything in general, it has to do with things on a grander scheme. Have you ever missed your family and wanted to see them, only to know in the deepest cavity of your heart, you know that it is not possible to go see them?

Have you ever wandered down a dark alley, all alone and the only light shining is that of a star from a steeple on a church, other than that, you’re alone. Have you ever felt like no one on this planet cared for the pain you were in, then from out of the blue, people, your friends, do something in a grand matter to show you they care, and get this, they expect nothing in return! Friends from one corner of the continent to the other?!?! Amazing people!

Did you ever have a family member from 20 years ago friend request you on facebook, and what? Do they want to be friends NOW? Do they want to know what is going on in my life, so they can insult me and tell all their friends they ‘knew me when’? What do they want from me? They don’t want to be my ‘friend’ that’s for sure and that is the reason I  ignore most of them. They don’t know me, could care less about me, and only want to know OF me.

Whereas my friends in the writing community, they really love me. It’s a family kind of love. You know, the kind I never grew up with, only dreamed about having one day in my life? That unconditional love where they can put someone, in this instance me, in front of their own needs.

We’re a family, us writers and if one has a need, we all circle around to help that writer, and yesterday what arrived at my front door because of the love that they felt for me, just nearly dropped me to my knees. I know I cried puddles of tears to think that these people, none that I have ever physically met in my life, wrapped their love around me, and comforted me in a way no other person could do, they SHOWED they cared. And it was more than what came to my door...it was in the compassion and heartfelt warmth that was carried in the door with it.

Thank you all, mentors, TRUE FRIENDS, from the bottom of my heart. I hope I can give you one tiny measure of happiness that you gave to me abundantly!!! God Bless you all!!!

Jas.2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Facebook Woes

The act of writing is an act of optimism. You would not take the trouble to do it if you felt it didn't matter.
~Edward Albee
***

I remember a few years ago a friend told me about facebook being a place to hook up with fellow writers and the possibilities of networking. I saw that as a step in the right direction, then I started getting friend requests from people I hadn’t seen in thirty years, so I clicked the ignore button and accepted mainly writers, and very close family.

The site quickly became a game. Sure I loved Farmtown, loved the Garden Patch, Yoville, Frontierville, but they soon became a place where there seemed to be a hidden agenda behind every game I liked to play. Then my computer stopped allowing the games to load, which was a blessing in disguise really. It unhooked me from the claws of doom. But not before I met some awesome friends through the games!

I post scriptures and well wishes and spread good, positive thoughts to everyone who enters my page. I’ve met new Christian friends along the way, and quickly I’ve been a positive link in a negative society.

Here lately the Social Scene that I liked, has now become the scene that I loathe. I’m not a political person by any means. I don’t bash our government for every little thing they do wrong and I certainly am not a partaker of spewing hate to the masses. I go to Facebook for a positive experience, but lately, (until I change my settings) a lot of negative is surfacing.

I don’t care if the president plays golf, is an ‘original born American’, if he had peas for breakfast, if HE is the one who made the call on getting bin Laden. I care, as an American citizen, that other American citizens who have freedoms BEYOND what many countries have, can sit on a high horse and declare their Christianity and in the same breath HATE.

Am I not to love my enemy? Am I not suppose to turn the other cheek? When has facebook become the end all gateway to information, much of it in way of virus’s and more hate?

People love to hate. People love to question. I love to write, share, spread good and call humanity on their ignorance. I am not perfect, I am a sinner. I am tired of facebook and the people who spew hate, and the people who LIKE the people who spew hate. I will limit myself on the scene for a while, rethink my plan of networking, and continue to write what is near and dear to my heart. I will love all, no matter what the others want me to hate.

There are a lot of good people on facebook, sure. But there is also an agenda.  I was told that with this Government of ours that my Christianity was in jeopardy. Little does that person know, the government doesn’t hold MY Christianity in its hands. God does. Her Christianity may be in jeopardy, but mine was built on a Rock!

Sprigs and Sprays

John 15: 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
***

What a week! I’ve blogged, I've wandered, I've kept up the pace of the every day hum drum, all with the help of a sprig and a spray! What in the world is a sprig? A spray?

Allow me to tell you, a sprig is a small branch and a spray is an offshoot of the branch, and after the week I’ve had, had it not been for the extension of the branch, I may have been weakened to the core. The spray of friends who understood me, as a friend and a writer, reached out and consoled me.

As our lesson ‘Conflict’ unraveled, students assumed this was a physical fight scene that needed to be written. Again we go back to say, “Did you read the tips?” Conflict can also be the inner struggle that one endures when faced with a decision in his/her life. It is not a knock down drag out fist fight which conveys a conflict scene, it is the mindset of the character, it is the emotional roller coaster that the said character is on day in and day out.

So with that said, my inner conflict is being helped along by the branches that are extending outward from people who really care. They are far and few in between, but the ones who do extend are enough to fill my heart, and make it grow three sizes too big this week. I’ve had to cut out a few things, restructure a few things and focus on more important things, all for the resolution of the inner conflict raging war inside of me trying its darndest to see to it that I crumble like an unneeded wad of paper.

Friends can be a branch in the war on conflict. They can be the making or breaking of all that you stand for. You are more than likely to have a so-called friend, stab you in the back, slice you open or just go for the jugular or a prettier scenario is they can rip your heart out of your chest and toss it on the floor and stomp around a few times to see how much blood they can drain from you.

But on a more positive note to resolution, real friends, the ones who stick by you through thick and thin, (eliminate family because they’re just there as a back up) will be the ones who extend loving words, kind gestures, a heartfelt love that no other on this Earth can offer. Friends don’t let Friends, drown!

Job 19:14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
***
Mark 3:21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.

Tinkles and Twigs

He who has imagination without learning, has wings and no feet.
Joseph Joubert
***

Conflict ~
Conflict can be expressed on many levels. Take yesterdays post of inner conflict. I wrote it so it wouldn’t be on my back pushing me down like an overstuffed garbage bag, but remember, conflict in a story can lift your words to new heights.

We have antagonist and protagonist in reality and in our fictional stories. The job is to know who is who and where they lurk. In life, they can seemingly be your friend, who has turned and gone to the other side of the moral spectrum, and in fiction it can be the butcher, the baker, or the candlestick maker. You are the creator so your antagonist can be whomever you want them to be. (Reality can hold antagonists such as your Butcher, Baker and Candlestick maker, too.)

I love conflict in a story. Have you noticed as you’re reading a book (or listening) and the story is going along smooth, a happy gathering of folk all laughing having a good time, then gunshots ring out in the neighboring apartment. This stirs a story into conflict. The characters all flee the scene and in doing so a person is shot dead! Why didn’t they just stay where they were?

You know why? Because the conflict would have fell flat. Conflict needs to be stirred in ways that the reader is trying to read so fast and get through the pages, they flip and flip until the story concludes and you find you’ve read the entire book in record time!

Without conflict, you have a toddler genre ready to absorb all the good in stories. But even in Children's writing, there NEEDS to be a conflict to get your point across and you can draw the lines from good and bad. Kids need a moral compass and as writers our job is to see to it that through our antagonist and protagonist, they can see the good guy and the bad guy. A child always wants to see the hero win in the end.

Adult novels, while some bathe in smut, most have a genuine love story wrought with conflict.  Like Odd Thomas. Not too many characters touch me like the Odd one and his endearing love for Stormy! No smut a bout it, this love went deep and lasted through four novels, all the while fighting off the demons that Odd had to carry around with himself.

So you see, conflict, whether real or imaginary are the things that make up life, whether fiction or non-fiction; whether internal or external, conflict arises when one wakes up in the morning on a seemingly beautiful day. The bars of sun stream in the window, not a cloud in the baby-blue sky, you open the door and are assaulted with the biting cold, the rush of traffic, the neighbors dog barking and every other conflicting noise, sound, sight, you can imagine.

Make your writing DANCE! Add a little conflict to it!