Tag: dailyprompt

I don’t know if I should answer this question!

I used to have a shoe tick but that is wearing off as I can’t wear most of them here. Heels and cobblestones don’t go together. Decluttering helped get rid of several pairs of shoes but with a heavy heart.

I do have one collection that is gathering dust simply because my constant companion now is a hiking rucksack! I am talking about my bag collection and I have one in almost every color and designer. You name it and I have it. Why?

Clothes , shoes, bags and jewelry used to mean a lot during my working days. My current laid-back style of living doesn’t require the same meticulous way of dressing to the nines. I have been recouping and parting ways with a lot of my collections but those bags are something else altogether. They are lined up on top of cupboards, in cupboards and in the cellar. Get the picture?

Some I bought myself but most are gifts from a close friend who thought the way to my heart was to buy me an expensive bag each time a special occasion rolled by. It didn’t quite work but my bag collection started growing and I won’t say how many I have but it is a huge collection. All brand spanking new too! One day I will gather up my no nonsense attitude and sell them or part ways with them but for now they are gathering dust and grinning at me just like that cheesecake does!

When my son and friends think back about me, I want them to say she was a good person with a good heart and she used her time here on earth as a vessel for spreading good.

A friend told me a week ago that I am the least egotistical person he knows. It was in reply to my telling him that someone had called me “egotistical.” I think I am kind, compassionate, gentle, loving and trustworthy. Add to that a person who is always working for the good of others and you’ve got my spirit down pat. I think the quote below says it all.

“The greatest legacy one can pass on to one’s children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one’s life, but rather a legacy of character and faith.” Unknown

When my time on earth is done, I want my legacy to say, “She was a good person.”

I’m just kidding. I love cold weather! Strange? Not really. I’ve lived in the tropics and I used to enjoy running wild along the beach or in the jungles as a young girl and it was fantastic at that point in my life, but as I grew older and moved to Europe, my mindset changed. I wouldn’t say for the better but something shifted and I became a fan of cold weather.

Most people love summer but in Europe where air-conditioning is seen as a sin or rather as not being environmentally-friendly, people sweat it out for all the wrong reasons I think but that is just my opinion. Plus, there are those who think that going deodorant-free is a good thing. All fine and good but try standing in line at the supermarket and imbibing all that goodness!

I usually wait for fall when the weather turns and everything has a nicer feeling about it. Walking becomes a pleasurable activity again and sweating takes a backseat. I love it when the first snow hits and everything is pristine and covered in white but ice is something I can do without. I’d rather stay home when it is icy outside but it doesn’t happen that often so that is another good thing.

I’ll take cold weather all year round! Weirdo? Call me whatever but I simply love bundling up in heavy coats although they’ve made them light as air now which is another plus and add all the other accessories such as gloves, scarves and the rest and I’m in wonderland!

Hmm….not that I can remember. I recall one time when I was in a hurry. I had just got out of the shower and had minutes to get to where I needed to go. The floor was wet but I rushed out of the bathroom and then had to run back in to get something when I slipped and hit the side of the bathtub really hard.

I felt a searing pain shoot up my ribs on the right side. The fall knocked the wind out of me. I stood up slowly, felt around to see what I had done but except for the pain nothing else seemed to be amiss. I got dressed and took off to pick someone up at the train station. It was almost midnight and I needed to hurry.

I made it there and as I sat there at the train station, I wondered if I had broken a rib or two. The person finally got there and I told him what had happened. He suggested that I see a doctor the next day. The next morning, I was bruised, the pain was there but not as bad. I didn’t see a doctor, I am stubborn that way. I rubbed some ointment on it, refrained from doing my workouts and after a week of tender loving care, it got better.

That was the closest I came to breaking something. TOUCH WOOD!

Nothing much to say here. I am my own “boss” meaning I work from home so I do as I please. However, I do have a routine of sorts.

First thing’s first. A light breakfast is a must and add a cup of hot coffee and I am good to go. Then comes a walk or meditation or both. After that my real day starts. Quite often it has to do with writing. Some days I add a few more pages to the novel and on other days I let it all drift!

Playing with Chachi, the cat, is a must. Cleaning house and keeping things tidy is something I do everyday. I am a neat freak. Chachi doesn’t make it easy. He wears a fur coat and today as I was coming up the stairs, I noticed tufts of hair on the carpet! I yelled, “Chachi, what is this?”

He answered, “It’s hair mommy! I can’t help it!”

Another once-over with the vacuum did the job and the dark brown carpet is as good as new. The routine is boring but I do a good job of balancing both. Work is down to a very boring level but who cares! I’m loving it.

The sacrifices I made for love have been many but leaving to start life in another country was a huge one. Leaving the U.S. was a hard decision. I didn’t want to but it needed to be done because I was pregnant at the time and I didn’t have a choice. Oh, I could have stayed where I was but I was in “LOVE” and love makes you do things that you wouldn’t do otherwise.

One of the hardest things I had to cope with when I got here was not being able to speak the language and a culture that was in many ways alien to mine. Being heavy with child did not help matters much either. The newness of the place didn’t set too well especially when I couldn’t communicate what I wanted and needed. Independence was out the door and I was dependent on the in-laws and my new husband for help and that didn’t set too well with me either.

I did eventually learn the language, it was that or give up and go back home. I did grasp how everything worked in the village and even learned to like it. However, my advice to someone who is planning the same is to take a good hard look and to have a backup plan if everything goes down south. Love doesn’t last as I found out and the sacrifices I made in the name of love didn’t matter when I found myself alone in a country that was not mine.

It took time, focus, energy and learning to speak the language to feel at home here. Also, having a son meant that I had to somehow manage and to make this place my home. Being able to speak the language almost fluently has helped and of course integrating in a closed society is a must and that is another hurdle altogether. Not everyone is able to overcome what it takes and I have known many women through the years who gave up, packed their belongings and went back to where they came from. Sacrifice is defined as giving up (something valued) for the sake of other considerations so do not let your heart rule. Love is fleeting at best so think beyond that when making the decision to sacrifice what you are used to and to move to another country. Would I do it again? Knowing what I know now, I would say a definite NO!

I would say it is a pair of flip-flops that have seen better days. It is black and it has rhinestones on one side of each strap. I should have thrown them away but it never fails when warm weather rolls around, it is the first thing I look for! You can’t beat the comfort factor and even though it looks ratty, my attitude is the same as Melania Trump and that is, “I really don’t care!” How did she get the Einstein Visa? That’s for another time. Moving on…..

There are other sandals but it is this one that has kept me captive for about three years. I almost slipped and had a fall last year wearing these well-worn flip-flops because the toe thongs are a little loose but I escaped with nothing more than a sore muscle in my foot. Did I learn my lesson? Nope, it is back on this morning and I just love the freedom that flip-flops give not to mention that it allows your feet to breathe and it keeps them cool and dry when it is hot outside. However, the downside is that flip-flops can cause injuries so wear them only when it is necessary and not while you are doing sports or hiking.

Tell that to my feet because they are gazing up at me with a smile plastered on them!

I would say both. At times, I am a leader and at times a lamb that is being led to the slaughter! I think I do both well although I am trying to be less of a follower and more of…..I wouldn’t say a leader but someone who knows her own mind and knows in which direction to go for her own good.

I used to lead a team of people but those days are over with. I did the job well but those chaotic and stressful times are a thing of the past and these days I am my own person and I do as I please. Some days I would like some of that chaos back where your day simply flies past and you wonder where the time went. However, I wouldn’t change what I have now for anything in the world.

To answer your question, I do both things well. If I had to choose, I would say neither. I’m just someone who has her head in the clouds and loves daydreaming more than anything else!

I need to stop being too nice! This “niceness” bit sometimes brings trouble and instead of shutting it down immediately, I try to find ways of making things easier for the other person and “BOOM” I find myself in the same old boat. I wind up asking what happened and why did it happen?

Let’s look at this example. I meet a guy and I can tell from the start that there is nothing that connects us. NADA! Instead of giving a flat out no, I play, “Here we go around the Mulberry bush!” The guy thinks that there is a chance so he keeps trying harder. I get frustrated and think, “Don’t you get the message?”

He doesn’t because I don’t give a forceful NO! Let’s look at another example. I have a girlfriend who is never on time. I put up with it because I am this “nice” person, not a pushover but nice. Anyway, this last time, we made an appointment to meet and I was there 10 minutes early. Twenty minutes in and she was a no show. I wrote but no answer. Forty minutes in and still no show and no message. Forty-five minutes later, she writes nonchalantly, “Ooh, I forgot!” If there ever was a straw that broke the camel’s back,” that was it! I finally came out of my “nice” mode and gave her a piece of my mind. It’s been two weeks and we haven’t heard from each other. When we do, I hope punctuality is at the top of her list as far as I am concerned. I can only hope.

I want to take niceness out of the picture and replace it with speaking my mind, saying it like it is and NOT mincing words! It is a hard ask but those are some improvements I would like to make in my life.

Daily writing prompt

What’s one small improvement you can make in your life?

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