Blog @ Work

The car, the pain and the dream

The Wildcard Round! Today's winner, picked later this week from all eligible entries via Virtual Dice, will receive a Birthday MB! Tell us about the best birthday you've ever had. (30-Day BC)

I can remember we had this prompt not so long ago. , but I can’t find that entry, so here goes: my best birthday ever was when my aunt gave me a car for my birthday, I think it was fifteen years ago or something like that. At the time I didn’t have money to buy another car so I was without one for two years. She saw a second hand black Opel Corsa with an open roof at the equivalent of EBay, and she thought of me. So sweet! It was the best present ever. I contacted the owner who lived nearby and we closed the deal. I drove this car for at least two years and then I had to replace it by another car, a Volkswagen Jetta. All my cars I ever owned were second hand, I never wanted a new car although I am sure the money played an important role too. But I like second hand cars; I am always looking for bargains.

My aunt is the oldest sister of my late mother. She is way in her eighties now and I see her not that often, but I am very fond of her and will always cherish the thought that she gave me this wonderful present.

My birthdays didn’t add up to much most years, due to the fact that it’s in high summer and most people are on holiday every year around that time. So the last couple of years I don’t throw parties or anything, I just take a few people out for dinner in a restaurant and that’s it. But that particular birthday fifteen years ago is stuck in my memory.

Prompt: It's a privilege to bear witness to someone's story when they may not have had the chance to tell it before. Lindy Alexander. What are your thoughts on this? (BC)

Not every story is worth listening to, but when someone has never told a story because of shyness or because it is too painful to tell and they someday tell the story, then it is a privilege to hear it. I’ve heard lots of life stories when I was a counselor, I think I have forgotten most of them. Some stories and people stay with you over the years though; they have something special that you won’t forget.

I find some painful stories or poems very revealing here on WdC, and this is when I feel privileged to read the story. Just yesterday I read a poem that literally stopped my breath for a second. I thought it was very courageous to write poems about painful subjects. Of course there is this therapeutic component as well. And it can be proof that the painful event is part of one’s life story and the writer dealt with it somehow.

In many places the kids have gone back to school. If not, they will soon. What did you dream of back then? What did you want to be when your grew up, and how often did this change? Let me know. (BcoFs)

I wanted to be a writer or an actress when I was in kindergarten, later I wanted to be an anthropologist or a psychologist in high school. I became a psychologist, and am an aspiring writer and a poet now, so I am fortunate in that regard.

Day FORTY SEVEN "Give It 100!"