"The Chance I Didn't Take"

This story is based on prompt # 19 on the creative writing prompts website I use (http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/)
The prompt is "Begin a story with 'There once was a chance I didn't take'"

The Chance I Didn't Take

     There once was a chance I didn't take. When I was younger I always wanted to be a famous country music singer. I've always loved to sing, as far back as I can remember. I don't think I ever enjoyed anything as much as I enjoyed singing. I dreamed of recording my own albums, performing concerts, making appearances on the Grand Ole Opry, the crowds screaming and clapping, going wild all because of me. I had visions of award shows with me winning awards such as female vocalist of the year, song of the year, single of the year, album of the year, and of course the big one: entertainer of the year. I remember using my bed as a stage and my hairbrush as a microphone, practicing my performances. I even began writing my own songs so that I would have songs to sing because I didn't realize there are songwriters who write songs for the stars to sing. I told everybody I was going to be a huge country music superstar when I grew up. And, of course, everybody laughed at me. I was told over and over again, by many different people, how big a risk I would be taking if I were to follow my dream. I heard stories about all the millions of people who did pursue that dream and didn't make it and I heard horror stories about the percentage of those people who ended up living on the streets and eating out of dumpsters to stay alive. Those stories didn't scare me, though. I still wanted to pursue my dream. It was a risk I was willing to take. I wanted it that badly. So when I grew up and the time came for me to pursue my dream, of course, I very promptly proceeded to...freeze! "What do I do now? How do I start? Where do I begin?" I had no idea. Of course, back then there wasn't the internet to find all the information you need like there is today and when we did get the internet, I didn't know how to use it well enough to find the info I needed. I asked people what I needed to do to become a country music star, but all anybody was able to tell me was "Move to Nashville." Okay...move to Nashville and do what? I wasn't going to move to Nashville until I knew what to do once I was there. So I never did do anything to accomplish my goal. Over the years I just kind of lost interest in becoming a star. I even eventually lost interest in country music. I really don't even listen to music anymore, but when I do, it's gospel or contemporary Christian.
     So, that's the story...that was the chance I didn't take...and you know...I don't regret it!

"The Object of My Affection"

This story was based on prompt #1 of the creative writing prompt website I use (http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/)
The prompt was "Close your eyes briefly. Think of an object that's in the room and focus on it. Without opening your eyes, recall as many details as you can about it. After 3 miutes or so, open your eyes and write about that object".

The Object of My Affection

     My sweet husband is the object of my affection. He is so handsome! He is tall. He is cuddly like a teddy bear. I love to snuggle with him. He has salt and pepper hair and a salt and pepper beard. His hair is just starting to grow back from when he shaved it recently. His lips are so soft when he kisses me. And his hands...the same hands that are tough and rugged when he's making a living become as soft and smooth as silk when he touches me. And his voice...that same voice that is loud and redneck-sounding when he's talking in general softens and becomes so sweet when he tells me how much he loves me. Today he is wearing a black dress shirt and black dress pants, the same clothes he wore to church this morning. He got out of church, unbuttoned the first couple of buttons on his shirt, and he was ready to go for the rest of the day! He has beautiful big, brown eyes. My husband...sweet, wonderful, amazing, terrific! He is definitely the object of my affection!

"The Smell of Tranquility"

This story was based on prompt #9 on the creative writing prompts website I use (http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/)
The prompt was "Describe what you feel right now using your sense of smell".

The Smell of Tranquility

     All day up until now I've been busy. Housework, going to the laundromat to do laundry, etc. I've finally gotten a chance to slow down and I'm feeling that tranquil peace that you feel when you finally get to slow down after a hectic pace. Tranquility smells like ocean water washing up on the shore when you're relaxing on the beach. Lying there watching the waves roll in, one by one, that salty smell that lingers in the air. The smell of the salty breeze wafts in toward you washing over all your senses, and you just want to inhale and take in that alluring aroma while the sun warms your face and you can feel the spray of the water as it comes in on the breeze. That wonderful, enticing scent. I could just lie on the beach all day with my eyes closed and just enjoy the aroma.

"Sick Day"

This story was based on prompt #30 on the creative writing prompt website I use (http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/)
The prompt was "Write an excuse for not working today".

Sick Day

     Hi, it's me. I'm not going to be able to come into work today. Not feeling too well. Yeah, I woke up with a headache. Excruciating pain, like somebody stabbing me in my skull. Upset stomach, too. Nausea. Been throwing up all morning. Oh, and I twisted my ankle running to the bathroom to throw up. Hurts really bad. I can't walk now. Having to hop to the bathroom when I need to throw up. I've got a cold, too. Runny nose really bad. I've already used an entire box of tissue. You don't want me there. Don't want anybody catching this cold! Also, it's that time of the month. Cramping really bad....Hello? Hello? Hello? Oh, well...I guess he's going to let me miss work today! Good thing I'm not really suffering from any of that stuff! I wouldn't be able to enjoy my sick day!

"Big World"

"Big World"

Outside, looking up into the sky, I think about just how big the world really is. At times like these, I feel so small. A tiny speck on this huge earth. The world is like a big, ferocious animal, out to get me. And I feel so small and so helpless. But it's at times like this that I remind myself how big God is. He is so much bigger than the world and His power is limitless.

Just Some Info

Okay...the 3 stories below this post...if you want to read them in order, start with the bottom one and work your way up. They are a series. I posted them in order when I got finished writing them, but on the blog, newer posts appear above older ones, so they appear as if they are backward going from the top down.

"Houston's Mom Goes To Work"

"Houston's Mom Goes To Work"

     Because Houston enjoyed Biology so much, he decided to become a doctor.
     Houston's mom had quit working when he was born, and now she was ready to go back to work. Houston needed a receptionist, so he offered that position to his mom. Last time she worked in an office she used a typewriter. Now typewriters had been replaced by computers, and carbon paper had been replaced by copy machines, but she adjusted well. She loved her job! She always kept her filing cabinet well organized and kept her hole punches, paper clips, and pens neatly organized on her desk. She kept her office so neat and tidy, the janitor never had anything to do when he came in there. And she did a very good job as a receptionist for Houston.

"Houston Falls in Love"

I have to give co-writer credit in this one to my husband, William Henderson, who had to give me some help because I did not take Biology and have absolutely no knowledge of Biology. On the creative writing prompt website where I get my prompt ideas for stories, http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/, the prompt I was using required me to use the words biology, blood sample and leaf, so I needed Bill's help for that. Also, he helped me decide what country the foreign exchange student would be from and he suggested the foreign exchange student's name. So props to my wonderful hub for helping me out! Thanks, baby. I love you!

"Houston Falls In Love"

     Houston was a senior in high school. He always made good grades on his report card. This year he was taking Biology. He was excited about it. In Biology class, he was paired with the cute foreign exchange student from Japan. Her name was Akira. They were assigned to test blood samples that were on leaves. They received an "A" on their project. Afterward, Houston asked Akira out on a date. He was nervous because she was so cute and he wasn't sure if she'd say yes. She did say yes and they went to dinner and a movie. They had a great time and a relationship began to blossom. This made Houston nervous, however, because she was a foreign exchange student and was only here temporarily. He was really falling for her. What would happen when the time came for her to go home? He was going to enjoy it while he could, though. They dated all through the school year. When they graduated, neither of them wanted her to go back to Japan. They talked about marriage, but they still had college ahead of them. It wouldn't be smart to get married right now. But they were in love and they wanted to stay together. Love won out over brains and they did end up getting married before they started college. It wasn't an elaborate ceremony, being on short notice and not having much time to save money, but it was a nice ceremony. Akira was a beautiful bride. Her parents came from Japan to attend the ceremony. Houston had come a long way since his first crush, the little girl on the swing set at the playground with the pink ribbon in her hair. He was truly in love now, a married man, and so very happy!

"Houston's First Crush"

"Houston's First Crush"

     Houston was in first grade. He was doing really well in school and his mom was very proud of him. His teacher would send his school work home for his mom to look at, all bound together with a paper clip. Every afternoon his mom would look at the papers, beaming with pride at how well he was doing! She even received a letter from the principal about what a good student he was!
     Every morning, Houston's mom made his lunch for him, usually peanut butter and jelly, some apple wedges, chips and a cookie, packed into a cute blue lunch box for him.
     One afternoon, Houston's mom went to pick him up from school and he was on the playground. He was swinging on a swing and talking to a girl with a pink ribbon in her hair who was on the swing next to him. When his mom told him it was time to go, he pouted. He didn't want to go. He wanted to stay and continue talking to the girl. Aww...how sweet! Houston had his first crush!

"The Color of Hunger"

"The Color of Hunger"

I associate hunger with the color red. Hunger charges at me like a bull. It comes on strong. Hunger is ferocious. Hunger is extremely aggressive. It knows what it wants and there is no mistaking, when hunger strikes, you'd better satisfy it, because if hunger doesn't get its way, it will knock you flat on your backside! Hunger is no joke! It is to be taken seriously. Huger contains a certain energy. Don't ever make the mistake of believing that hunger is only your imagination, that it's not real. Hunger is so real! It exists, and it is not to be ignored!

"Sleep"

"Sleep"

     When I want to get away from it all...away from the pressures of life...I like to sleep. Sleep so that I don't have to think about it. Sleep to escape. To escape the heartaches of life. To escape the difficulties of life. To escape the complications of life. "I don't want to have to think about it. I just want to sleep." Of course, I know that my problems will still be there when I wake up. But for a little while, just for a brief moment, I can escape it. Sleep and dream. Dream of how life could be. Dream of a perfect world. Dream. Sleep. I just close my eyes, drift off, and dream.

"An Act of Stupidness"

I found a creative writing site that has numbers from which you can choose a number and each number gives you a different prompt to write about. Here is the link for the site: http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/
I chose 41 because that is my age. The prompt for #41 is to write about a time in which you hid or pretended to be someone you weren't. I chose to write about the one time I hid from the police. I was 16 at the time. Of course, the names have been changed, but the story itself is pretty much exactly how the incident happened.

"An Act of Stupidness"

     Nikki and Lacey were 16 years old and they were best friends. They were always together. Okay, not always, but as much as they could be. They sat together on the bus on the way to school, they ate lunch together, they made sure to find each other in the hallway between classes (why was it that they never had any classes together?), they sat together on the bus on the way home from school, after they finished their homework in the afternoons one would walk to the other's house, on the weekends they would spend the night with each other, alternating one's house one weekend and the other's house the next. Yes, they were very best friends.
     Nikki and Lacey were typical teenage girls. They liked to listen to music, go out to the movies, hang out at the mall. There was nothing out of the ordinary about either of  them. They were good girls who never got into any trouble...
     Well, almost never. I suppose all teenagers do something stupid at least once, and Nikki and Lacey's one stupid thing...of course, they did it together.
     They were having a sleepover at Lacey's house. They had watched t.v., listened to music, read the latest teen magazines, and talked and talked and talked and talked. It was about 12:30 AM and neither of them was sleepy. They were bored and wanted something new and exciting to do. They were thinking...trying to come up with an idea...something different...something they've never done before...when all of a sudden Lacey remembered a sleepover she had been to for another friend's birthday a couple of weeks earlier. There were about six girls there and Belle, the birthday girl, decided she wanted to sneak out of the house. So they did. All six or so of them. No destination in mind, no agenda. Just teenage girls sneaking out of the house for no good reason except they were doing something they knew they weren't supposed to be doing, and that made it exciting. All they did was walk through the neighborhood, talking and giggling. They walked for about two miles, then they turned around and went back to Belle's house. They had fun and didn't get caught.
     So Lacey told Nikki about it and suggested it for the two of them to do. Nikki liked the idea, except instead of walking she thought it would be a better idea to call a friend who had a car and ride around. Nikki called a guy friend who had a car and he agreed to meet them at the end of Lacey's street and pick them up. When he picked the girls up, of course his first question was, "Where to?" That's one of the major differences between girls and boys...when boys go somewhere they have to have a destination in mind. Girls are happy just wandering around. So, because the girls didn't have a destination in mind, the guy pulled into the parking lot of a 24-hour convenience store. None of them got out of the car to go into the store. They just sat in the car and talked. Of course, after the car pulled into the parking lot and nobody got out of the car, the clerk inside the store got nervous and pushed the button underneath the counter to summon the police. Within seconds, a police car pulled into the parking lot. The female officer went straight inside the store and starting talking to the clerk, while the male officer walked around Nikki's friend's car, looking for anything suspicious-looking before joining his partner inside the store. As they officers were speaking to the clerk, Nikki's friend started driving off. Almost immediately, the officers were in their car and following the guy's car. He turned onto Lacey's street and they turned right behind him. About halfway down the street, he pulled over on the side of the road. He dunked down in the front floorboard, and yelled to the girls to dunk down in the back floorboard (they were both in the back seat). The girls knew this was a dumb idea, but they did it anyway. Of course, the police car pulled up right behind them. The officers got out of their car and approached Nikki's friend's car. The male officer opened the front door and told Nikki's friend to step out and the female officer opened the back door and told the girls to step out. The officers shone their flashlights on the kids to get a good look at them, then they looked into the car. The only thing they found in the car was a flashlight, to which they asked the kids, "What were y'all planning to do with this?" Of course, they weren't planning on doing anything with the flashlight, but the officers did not believe them. The officers also shone their flashlights into the kids' eyes and asked them if they had been smoking pot. They had not, but the officers were determined to believe that they had been. However, as much as the officers wanted to believe it, they could not find proof that the kids had been doing something that they actually had not been doing, so they couldn't arrest them for anything. They let Nikki's friend go because he had a car. They put Nikki and Lacey into the back seat of the police car and took them to Lacey's house. The police woman knocked on the door using the bottom of her flashlight. Lacey's mom answered the door and the police woman told her what had happened, and Lacey's mom told Nikki's parents about it the following day. Both girls were grounded for two weeks.
     Now, for any teenager who might be reading this, I am not condoning this behavior. Exactly the opposite. This is just an example of an act of stupidness by bored teenagers who felt that they had to do something exciting to keep from being bored. Both girls, now adults, agree that it was a stupid thing to do.

Creative Writing Blog

Hi, everybody! I have decided to try my hand at creative writing. I used to dabble in it a bit and decided to attempt to dabble in it again. I will be recording my stories on this blog.