Write on Wednesday - The Saddest Thing I Ever Heard

The Saddest Thing I Ever Heard....

{Image}

They sat around the table reminiscing about the good old days of living in the big old house on the farm, while the rain tapped a melody on the hot tin roof. Each took their turn bringing forth a memory; holidays by the beach and being nipped on sunburnt toes by crabs; travelling to Sydney with the windows down and the smell of fields and fields of rain drenched grain; mad games of hide and seek ending in finding the younger children asleep in the hay loft; school lunches of vegemite sandwiches and little blocks of homemade cheese. 


"Dad, remember that game you used to play with us before dinner? The 'Water Game'?" The now adult children all remembered this with great fondness and began recollecting tallies and amounts and bragging rights. 


"I loved that game. I do it with my children now. But we do it after dinner so the children don't spoil their dinner. We gather around the table and see how many glasses of water we can drink. My kids love it!" They all chirped in with more accounts of the famous family game.


The now old and frail father had tears streaming down his face. He looked at his children with pleading eyes, "The farm wasn't making any money, the drought had hit hard, there was simply not enough food.... We had to play that game, we couldn't let you go to bed with empty stomachs. We gave you lots of water to drink so you wouldn't go to bed hungry." His voice trailed off and soft sobs could be heard.


The room filled with silence. Even the rain stopped tapping.


"Dad, that is the saddest thing I have ever heard. But, I am so proud of you for never telling us. I thought I grew up as a king; I had fresh air aplenty, sun to brown my skin, a mother who made her own jam and a father who grew grain that fed our country. I have never been as proud of you as I am right now."


More tears, more hugs, more respect, more tea and more memories were shared that night. The children went home to their children better people for knowing what they had learnt about their past.






Thanks for the inspiration Mr Cool... This story is based on an urban myth, although it may very well be true... I was really struggling to come up with something to write about for this prompt. But, over the washing up we were discussing that even though things are tight at the moment, it is just a season and pretty soon things will get better. It was good to be reminded that there is always food on our table and there are always clothes in our cupboards. I don't think we will ever appreciate how hard things were and are for those who work the land or who cannot earn enough to sustain a family... 






I am linking in with InkPaperPen for Write on Wednesdays...
The Write On Wednesday Rules: Get creative with the writing exercises - there isn't a right or wrong. Please do try to visit the other members of Write On Wednesdays and leave a comment of support and constructive criticism. 
Write On Wednesdays Exercise 25 - I heard a song on the radio during the week and I thought the lyrics would make an interesting prompt for WoW. So, write the words "The saddest thing I ever heard" on your page, set your timer for 5 minutes and write the first words that come into your head based on the given prompt.

Why oh Why am I doing this?

I literally typed the following into 'Google':  'Why do people blog'?  As you would expect, a H.U.G.E list of articles came up. I have since come across articles giving some fabulous advice, funny things to do, quirky things to do, inspirational things to do and absolutely outrageous things to do, it was quite educational.


For those of you who know me and/or have followed my diatribes on Facebook over the past few weeks, you will know that I have been trying to rejuvinate my blog. What a comical disaster of errors this has been. I have searched high and low for a new funky background, I have 'Skitched' and spliced, Picasa'd and Googled, I have deleted and added, changed fonts, swished colours, chosen and un-chosen templates, and even updated my blog roll. I now have a new look and a new focus and I have been all gung-ho to .....


Oh pfft... What the heck am I doing here?  Why on earth would anyone care about what I have to say? Who is reading this anyway?


I know that this sounds a bit weird and a bit self-loathing, but I have had to basically decide whether this blog thing is for me. I mean I could leave my little ripple in the blogosphere and take up cross stitching cat decals on socks and be done with it. Then a Crafty friend reminded me of why I started this blog. I love to write.  No, no, I know YOU love to write too.... But I L.O.V.E. to write.


At night when I wake up, I am in the middle of thinking through story plots, or I am thinking how I can improve a recipe format, or I am remembering something that made me really mad and a letter I could therefore justifiably write (I have a very interesting 'Draft' section in my email account), I am coming up with anonymous letters to people in my street to get their cats desexed, their lawns mown or letting them know that if I stand on the very tippy corner of my bath and lean 32 degrees, I can see into their shower. I love to write. About anything.


So... writing is my first passion when it comes to my blog. But my other passions fit into my blog too - which is handy. I am passionate about 'cool' - ridiculous, right? Not cool for the sake of being cool, but cool as in maintaining a good attitude, keeping good peeps around me, experiencing new things and constantly learning learning learning. I am anti-settling. I am not ready to settle into my hair-cut, shoe style, jeans cut or my 'look'. I am not ready to say I am too old for things (I will not be listening to Beiber and wearing jeggings by the way, don't worry). I am passionate about continuing to discover myself and life even though I have kids and a mortgage (or two).


Therefore, (I wanted to start this paragraph with, 'So', but the previous one was....) within the html of this blog you will find things on fashion, shopping, my somewhat quirky homelife (just wait until you meet 'Fern'), my feeble attempts at crafty things and sewing, and I am going to add cool things about my kids. I was not going to blog about my kids because EVERYONE blogs about their kids, but, you know what? My kids are really cool, and we do really cool things together. Therefore, they get space on my blog.


But you will hopefully find my first love, writing. I give myself little topics to research and write about and things to think about all the time, which send imaginative sparks shooting through my brain.  Topics coming up in my Drafts are the history of Birkenstocks, lists of what you need to get your cool back if you have lost it, rules for shopping, the difference between 'Style' and 'Cool' and the list goes on and on and on and on....


Cool....

Reader Question: What Makes Cons so cool?

Thanks to Friend #194 who asked a question that I thought I would attempt to answer in a blog post. In my post about "What is always cool", I mentioned Converse sneakers. Her question to me was whether it is just marketing that makes Cons cool - she asked what the difference between a K-mart remake and the real thing are in relation to their 'coolness'? I have been a-pondering.

I get what she is saying, sometimes wearing the right item can be enough. But, I have to say, that people care about brands, whether we like it or not. I had the privilege of heading off to school camp, (being pregnant in a sleeping bag is an interesting debacle...) I wore my silver Chucks and the kids noticed. Students who had never spoken to me before mentioned my shoes... Converse sneakers are cool right now. But here are my thoughts on Friend #194's questions...

Firstly, I have been reading quite a bit about style lately. I am sure it is uncool to go to the town library and seek out books on style, but that is where I found some great books filled with tidbits of advice on making a wardrobe timeless and functional. I also learnt a lot of hogwash about owning only certain items in certain shades, and how to store fox stoles - on fox, I say! But something rang out, you never regret buying quality, I have found this time and time again. I have been suckered by the sale rack at Target and bought zany fashion items for $3.44 because they were such a bargain, but these items were doomed to Lifeline from the time of impulsive purchase. On the other hand, there have been times when I have bitten the bullet and paid a wee bit more for a quality item, to then have something that lasts and lasts and stays in great condition for more than a season. I have had my Chucks for well over a year and they have been to Tonga and New Zealand, I wear them with shorts and jeans and they are still looking pretty new.

Secondly, I have also mentioned this before in older posts, cool things have a story. Converse began as an independent company, sometime around 1908, wanting to make a product that didn't follow the crowd but stayed true to its brand. During WWII they made shoes and apparel for American servicemen. They have redesigned their shoes many times and have been able to make basketball shoes a fashion accessory for basketball players, rock & roll stars, students, and of course, cool mums dropping kiddies off to school.

Thirdly, being individual is cool. Friend #286 has a pair of hand painted Pumas - cool because they are so unique (he is also cool by the way, not just his shoes). Friend #612 is cool because she loves op-shopping and wears a mini dress as a maternity skirt - she sees possibilities in things. Being an individual is something we all strive for and I can't help but wonder if buying imitations of things made by major corporations takes away some of the shoe's intended individualism. I think that there is a time and a place for quality, story and individualism. Some cool people out there wouldn't think Converse shoes fit this criteria. Does Converse tick all the cool boxes for you in this instance? Dunno, but for me, it does. I think they are cool.

"And there you have it - for now... The best stories are the ones that don't end - the ones you just keep adding to and adding to - all the while marveling at the creative, disruptive, optimistic, courageous ways things evolve from being what they were, to what they are, to what they will become." This is the final sentence from the 'Heritage' section on the Converse Website... Who wouldn't want to say this about their life? Cool, very cool.

Check out the Converse Website (its cool) at: Converse Aus/NZ