Ten-Finger Exercises

playing around

About last night's entry, it was fun to write from a prompt again. I haven't entered any contests forever; and so, tonight, instead of composing the blog I've been rolling around in my head, I wrote a flash fiction story for the daily contest.

The Good Deed  (E) a change in plans #1393167 by Wren

As happens sometimes with lines I'm supposed to get into a story, they don't fit as well as I'd hoped. But I liked the rest of the story, so maybe will go back and rework the line another time. It's wonderful to be able to go back and add as many darn words as you want, too! 300 is just not enough.

Now I'm going to go make a Weight Watcher Zero Points soup, but first, a comment about yesterday's blog. I wasn't trying to fish for compliments, but thanks for them anyway. I also wasn't trying to make a self-improvement to-do list. What I was thinking about, or reacting to, was a patient who died recently. He was only 58, and this tumor came out of nowhere, probably related to his occupation as a stone carver. It attacked his nervous system, and he could no longer walk, and barely talk. He was bone thin. But he never lost his sense of humor, never complained.

That has to be a choice, to decide to make the best of every day and try not to make life any harder for those you love. He and his wife loved each other and loved being together. I never heard any self-pity, or anger, or irritation from either of them. Every thing they said and did was loving, and there was nothing put-on about it. Sure, there were frustrations, but they were very careful not to take them out on each other. Once he said she was mad at him about something he wanted to do that she was afraid for him to try. But you could see he understood that she had his best interests at heart, and vice versa.

I think we are more able to be the people we want to be than we give ourselves credit for. Conversely, I think we don't pay as much attention to the effect our words and deeds have on others as we could, or should. It's easy to try to make ourselves look better with a joke about a spouse's messy habits, etc.; but is it worth it? Probably not.

And that's all I have to say about that. Off to the soup.