Curmudgeon No More

NEW PROMPT: Tomorrow, January 29, is Curmudgeons Day. This observance celebrates the birthday of noted curmudgeon and comedian W.C. Fields (more details at that link). Write a story or poem about someone who became a curmudgeon exactly 20 years ago. What was the incident that changed them? Do they have any desire to stop being a curmudgeon? In honor of W.C. Fields, one required genre for your item is: Comedy.


Curmudgeon No More

This is a hard prompt. Robert Waltz What were you thinking when you posted this?

I can think of two examples. Both are from real life. So true confession time.

My father was a curmudgeon. “If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anyone, come and sit here by me” is a quote by Alice Roosevelt Longworth. It could also apply to my father. Rude and crude, he would say something to you that could cut to the bone. I was on the receiving end of many a remark of his.

I, too, became a curmudgeon for a time back in the 2000s. I had recently divorced my second husband, my children weren’t around, my family far away. I was working three jobs at one time. I discovered that curmudgeon is a uni-sex term. There is no female version. It is an all-encompassing word for a person who finds no joy in life.

When you are deep into a bad patch of life, it is hard not to be a curmudgeon. It’s hard not to find the dark side of everything. Life sucks, and hurts.

Then one day I decided to find a way out. I made a conscious effort to see my way to change. I started dating again, a humorous effort at times. But this is the time I met my current husband.

Once I met him, no more curmudgeon. Life was brighter. There was joy again. A decent person who loves you and you love back, what a change that can make in your outlook.

My father? I fear he remained a curmudgeon his entire life. I went to his funeral and wept. I wept for what might have been.


W/C 285