Remembering

It was a normal day, or a least that is what we all thought. I had gotten Daniel off to school and gotten dressed to go to work. It was a day that I would catch the 11:00 bus to Whitesboro. Sat down on the couch to watch some television before I left and there was something on about a major event happening. I saw smoke coming from the tower. When the newscaster started talking about a plane crashing into the building, my mind wondered how that could have happened and then when the second one hit and they started talking about the plane crashing into the pentagon my mind started to whirl. I am sure I am remembering this jumbled but it was such an intense moment and after ten years I might be mixed up a bit. Still I do remember. The order doesn't really matter does it? What matters is how the way you felt stayed with us all after all of this time. I remember feeling at first like it wasn't really happening. When it sank in that they were suggesting terrorism, my mind and heart screamed, oh my God, here we go. Even at that instance you couldn't help but realize that life had changed forever. I sat, I watched, I cringed, I wondered how many people were inside and how they were getting out. And then the tower fell, goosebumps rise on my neck even as write that. I will never forget the things that I saw and sometimes I wish news coverage wasn't as great as it was or that I had already been on the bus. Still the fact that I was in my living room and watched this event unfold as it happened is a great testament of how technology can unite the world. I wasn't there and yet I was. My mind screamed, my heart cried and I wished there was something I could do. We all experienced shock and pain that day and many days to follow. Anger soon followed for many and as is the way of the human mind that anger might have been directed towards many who didn't deserve it. Ten years have gone by and the memories linger and there still residual pain for many. I only hope that we all realize that there is evil in this world but that the whole world isn't evil. Do not lose sight of the wonderful things all people can and will do. Do not label a group of people as evil if they share the same heritage as the few who did this evil thing. Do try to see through others eyes and feel what they might feel, difficult as that always is. Remember a dreadful time but do not relive it over and over giving anger and despair power to control how life is lived. There have been dreadful things happening in the history of the human race since day one. Let us try to learn from it and hope we eventually rise above our baser instincts. Life is a road lined with great and wonderful things and also many dangers and pitfalls. All anyone can do is just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

sketches

fractured senses

my bird that appeared in the doodle I was doing

just a note

I am in a strange mood once again. I can't honestly remember the last time I was genuinely happy without any reservations. Any feeling of happiness or joy always has a trailer of (but still) attached to it. I really think this aging thing is getting to me way too much, did I think I was never going to age. Maybe I need counseling on how to handle it. What I would really like is for it not to happen. I advise anyone to find something in life that defines them besides how they look or how they feel physically because those two things are the ones that change drastically and unless you have something else you just might be lost. I do have other things that define me to me but still when I look in the mirror or groan just trying to stand I just want to burst into tears and hide. I really hate feeling this way but can't figure out a solution. Really I just want to stop caring about such things. I just want to be happy, to enjoy the person that I am without criticizing everything that makes me me. Not only do I judge myself harshly, I find that I am laying judgement on others and intolerance is becoming part of me. I feel like my personality is evolving in a way that is distasteful to me and without any direct involvement from me. I know that doesn't make sense but it is that whole feeling like I am in this world and also slightly to the side of myself. This feeling is very hard to make people understand but that is because it is inside my head not theirs. This is just a note to make some of these thoughts go quiet inside my brain for a bit.

Split-Screen

She was in her car taking the on ramp, heading for the interstate. Suddenly there was a pain in her head so intense that her eyes closed involuntarily. In that moment her vehicle headed for the cement barrier and climbed it like a ramp. As her eyes opened to her dilemma, she beheld a split-screen view. On one side was the sky and road reversing positions and things in her car falling around her as the vehicle flipped; on the other were swiftly moving scenes of her whole life. The people, the places, the events, the feelings were made visible to her in amazing clarity during that small amount of time. Why these visions of her life were shown to her at this time was yet to be known. A reminder of things to live for, because surely this event definitely threatened her existence; or the chance to review and let go, should her existence cease? To be continued......

Never

Into the cold dark night she ran, her head filled with thoughts of Never. Never pin your hopes on a single possibility. Never let your guard down all of the way. Never expect the best from any given situation for that makes the worst even harder to take. Never give your heart expecting an equal return for you will be doomed to disappointment. Out of the cold dark night she came, her head filled with thoughts of Never. Never give up hope for there is always a possibility. Never hold yourself so guarded that nothing can get close. Never expect only the worst for you might miss the best. Never expect something for giving your heart, it is best given freely.

Tears From Nowhere

Why do I weep at the strangest things

Why do I weep at the strangest times

Why do I weep with a sadness deep

Why do I weep, why do I weep

When I hold back my tears where do they go

When I hold back my tears are they somewhere

When I hold back my tears does the sadness disappear

When I hold back my tears they must go somewhere I think

When I hold back my tears they go to a place that stores them for later

A song, a picture, a story, a thought is all that it takes

For tears to come from nowhere

Just Me

My name is Jackie Reeder. I am almost 54 years old with blonde hair and blue eyes. Age is something that bothers me and I wish it didn't. I am getting paunchy and seriously out of shape. I have many aches and pains and I tire way more easily then I used to. I am a bit strange in many ways. I like art, looking at it and creating it; though if you ask me, I will say what I do is not art. I love music and love to dance even if it hurts my neck and knees. I love gardening but tend toward a natural untamed type of gardening. I make my yard a bit of an art project. I am not a real fan of television but do like some programs. I get bored if I watch the same stuff over and over. In fact boredom is my biggest problem. Anything done over and over, especially at regular time periods tends to make me crazy. Inactivity sets me up to be stressed and yet over-activity also sets me up to be stressed. Stress seems to be a large factor in my life. I want someone to share my interests with but have no patience to deal with people. I like to take walks in search of treasure; visual, auditory, or physical. Pretty rocks, bird feathers, unusual pieces of wood make me smile. I see faces in many things and wonder if others do also. I like food but don't like it to be a main focus of the day or a form of entertainment. I love to laugh and hardly do so these days. I get embarrassed easily and then I get cranky because of it. I am physically demonstrative but it is not all that I am. I want a bigger home because I am a collector of stuff, though mostly I wish I wasn't. I hate that I am never happy or satisfied. I just love creating stuff from throw-away things so I always see things with the idea that it can be used for something. I have to force myself not to pick stuff up off the street and to throw things away that most people would just see as trash.