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Remembrance

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 4 Comments

“I’ve forgotten how to be in my own body,” she said

“I feel like I have woken up in a foreign land”

I took her by the hand

Led her down the the sea

“Sit down and let the waves remind you,” I said

We lay back, and with closed eyes

Became one with the ocean

The undulation, the caress and push-pull

We let ourselves be swallowed

And we became mermaids again

Bodies arching, diving

Arms moving through the water

Embracing the flow of the tide

She started crying tears of deeply relieved joy

And so then did I, to see her find home again

Our salt tears mixed with the salt of the sea

And when we finally returned to the shore and found our legs again

We took the ocean with us in the sway of our hips

And the pulse of our hearts

Inspired by The Daily Word Prompt: undulate

Post-Truth Confessions

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 5 Comments

“Brilliant, just brilliant,” she said to no one in particular as she heard the sickening metallic sound of the car’s right front shank as it scraped along the cement wall that she had tried to avoid having to drive by in the first place.

Had it not been for the annoying oversized truck that had stopped just before the exit, blocking it, she’d never have taken the sharply curved driveway leading out of the parking garage at such a fast pace.

She didn’t stop to survey the damage – what was done was done – but as she drove off, she quickly began thinking of scenarios (other than her own road rage) that might help her husband take the news more easily.

Inspired by The Daily Word Prompt: brilliant

Feline Lifeline

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ Leave a comment

Forlorn once was I

No hope was in sight

I’d fought hard to live

But felt I’d lost the fight

Were it not for my cats

Wouldn’t’ve made it through

How sad that’ve been

For I’d never’ve met you

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: forlorn

A Funnel Cake Life

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ Leave a comment

Sometimes I still think everything would be fine

If I just had a deep-fried Twinkie or two (or three)

Or perhaps a few handfuls of Lilac chocolates

A half dozen chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven

A pint of Moose-tracks or Honey ice cream melted just to the right consistency

A big bag of Jelly Bellys, assorted will do, but plenty of Popcorn, Chocolate Pudding and Cherry, please

Some Banana Cream Pie

A box of salt water taffy

And unlimited funnel cakes

My sugar days are over, alas

But I still long for its soothing, sticky-sweet promises

Carnival-candy dreams for a happy life ahead

The high, the pleasure, the fullness, the love

I miss it all

But I know better

Inspired by The Daily Word Prompt: funnel

New Year’s Resolutions

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 2 Comments

“Winsome, I am not,” she said through gritted teeth to no one in particular as she sucked in a third time and desperately tried to pull her usual size 6 jeans’ zipper up.

Sadly, it would not go past halfway, and she was left with the sinking-in reality that she had indeed put on some weight around her hips over the holidays despite her best efforts to be mindful of her sweets and alcohol intake.

She peeled off the betraying jeans with a few choice swear words, leaving them in a pile, and dejectedly put on her comfy sweat pants vowing not to eat again until those GD jeans fit.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: winsome

Soup Stock

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 4 Comments

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m allergic to you,” she muttered under her breath to no one in particular as she watched Phil Peters walk away from the water cooler in order to catch up to the passing ample sway of Georgina Johnson’s hips – which always seemed to be in some kind of competition with her tight knit skirts for space.

She continued to appear very involved in stirring the Cup-a-Soup she had just filled with hot water but inside her heart plummeted several stories to its usual bed of disappointment and resentment as she once again caught her own narrow, rather restrained-looking hips from the corner of her eye.

And upon hearing the annoying tinkle of Georgina’s thin, high-pitched laugh – the laugh she only pulled out for unsuspecting admirers – she turned her back to them both and made a beleaguered beeline for her desk.

 

Inspired by The Daily Word prompt: allergic

Viable

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 1 Comment

Mightn’t I just lay down now

I’m so tired

Passed bone-weary last year

Let me just go to sleep

And never waken

Wish my beloveds a sweet farewell

There’s never been a moment of peace

I think I’ve earned some at this point

Maybe this has all been a random experiment

And my cell, never one that was expected to live

Maybe I beat the odds having come this far anyway

Maybe the Universe will sigh a sigh of relief when I let go

Maybe

Inspired by The Daily Word Prompt: viable

Slim Pickin’s

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 4 Comments

“Well, now, won’t that be a treat,” he muttered under his breath no no one in particular after Nester Johnson’s wife handed him an invite to her annual Hogs and Heifers party, turned and walked away with a little backwards glance and a coral-colored-lipsticked air kiss.

While he thoroughly felt compassion for her seeing as how she was married to one of the most foul men he’d met so far in this Godforsaken town, there was nothing short of J Lo or Madonna being headliner at the party that would ever make him willingly choose to attend.

And with that, he tossed the invite into the bin, put a fresh toothpick between his teeth and returned to wiping down the bar.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: treat

Thawed Out

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ Leave a comment

“I’m sorry, sir, but we have no reservation under that name,” she said in a put-on pseudo-British accent to no one in particular just as the timer on the microwave turned over to zero and made its angry announcement that her TV dinner was heated through.

“You’ll have to make other arrangements for this evening’s repast.”

And with that, she delivered her meal with a sly, self-satisfied smile and a flourish to the folding tray at the Laz E boy recliner in front of the TV, eager to return to her beloved The Price is Right reruns.

Inspired by The Daily Post Daily Word Prompt: reservation

Welcome 2018!

Aside ~ ~ Beyond the Skinny Branches ~ 8 Comments

I may need to change the name of my blog.

You see, I am in the midst of doing some exercises that I do each year to help me let go of the passing year and welcome the new one with a clean slate, set intentions and get clear about how I want to feel in the coming year.

Two of my favorite exercises come from the work of Susannah Conway. She generously offers a free Find Your Word program each year, and this year I am deep in the midst of it. Some people do it before the year ends, but I do mine the first week of the new year, in tandem with another process I have learned from her: Unravel Your Year.

With her Unravel Your Year workbook, I go over the year and look at what happened. I celebrate the wins and I embrace the lessons. I identify the things I want to keep doing and the things I would like to change. I ask myself what I want more of in the year ahead, and what I want less of. I envision what I would like to be doing and how I want to feel in the year ahead.

There is so much in both of these free programs — I am barely touching on the content here. I get so excited about them that I just had to share them with you. I highly, highly recommend them! (Thank you Susannah Conway!)

But back to my blog and the name of my blog.

I am in the midst of these year end/year ahead processes and am choosing my word or phrase for 2018. So far words like SOAR, BELIEF, SHINE, GOLDEN, REAL, YES and RISE are coming up repeatedly for me.

I began this blog as an attempt to start moving myself out of my self-contained shell of introversion, secrecy and shame and into the world where I could be seen, known and heard as I really am instead of the presentations I had so artfully created and utilized throughout my survival years on this planet. Hence the “skinny branches,” as I was moving out onto the skinny branches.

But now, I am finding that I want to fly. I want to leap off of the skinny branches and soar to new places, new dimensions. I want to test my wings in the sky.

So I have a dilemma. I love the name of my blog and it has meant so much to me. But I am ready for more than just life on the skinny branches. Do I change the name of my blog, or do I just keep growing and writing about it and let the name stand?

That will be a question I live for the new year, amongst many others.

Maybe that will be my word for 2018: Question.

I am not afraid of living in these questions today, of being “in process.”

2017 taught me how to really allow for that. Unexpected events of the year got me questioning everything in my life. And I mean everything. It was scary at first, and I am still in the midst of it so cannot tell you where it has brought me exactly, but I can tell you tat I know in my gut that it is very important and that where I am going through it is very good.

So we will see what lies ahead.

More to come.

However you choose to usher in the new year, I send my very best wishes to the world and to you for much peace and love in 2018.

A gift I also want to share with you today on this first day of the year is a wonderful 2018 welcoming resource by one of my favorite people (and bloggers) on the planet, Lisa Adams.

Her post today was just too beautiful, inspiring and nourishing not to share. She is a chef amongst her many talents and gifts, so it makes sense that her blog posts are always nourishing.

Enjoy! And Happy 2018!