drunken conversation.

I told him straight to his face
I don’t trust men–
well, except my daddy.
They all lie
and cheat
then lie about the cheating.

They all start out nice
and seem like a dream
right out of some fairy tale.
That’s what girls are supposed to want, right?
A Prince Charming?
Because that’s what society whispers
in tiny pierced ears as they are handed Barbies
and the boys get trucks.

I’m getting off topic.
Just like a woman, I suppose.

I can’t totally fault a man for being an ass.
Society says that’s okay too.

But basically I let him know
I hate men,
mostly because of their ways.

He smiled,
just as sweet as I knew he would
and promised to prove me wrong.

Right then, he was proving me right.

top ten.

With Halloween right on the heels of this week, I figured I’d do a little list of stuff that spooks me. Not necessarily in order.

10. Spiders
9. Breaking bones
8. Love
7. Drowning
6. Being trapped in a fire
5. Failure
4. Someone breaking into my house, especially when I am alone
3. Daddy Long Leg spiders
2. Car wreck/semi-trailer wreck
1. Losing a family member or close friend

grandma.

my grandmother always
had goolash and buttered bread,
green beans and mashed potatoes
waiting on Sunday afternoons after church
when my parents with us drove the 80 miles to visit.
That playground was across the street
and a pump stood in the backyard.

But change happens.

That playground is gone
and she lives in an apartment that can’t compete
with the old living room’s gas heater,
a bedroom with curtains for doors,
and an upstairs that allowed the Baileyville
winter winds to creep through its walls
beginning in November.
That house has been replaced,
a new one stands on its legs.

Mrs. Koch, the original,
is quiet and enduring.
I see her in me every so often
when someone tries to tell me what to do,
to dictate to me,
to offer negativity to those I love.
I see the stubborn
I see her spark
generosity unappreciated,
and pride immense.

The scope of her character
maybe even we can’t grasp.

How does one
become so beautiful?

I always thought of my grandmother
as a great pillar, poised for others,
firm and able to hold herself against
the greatest forces thrown,
even hurled at her, during this lifetime.
She is a worrier
without the tears.

I always thought my grandfather,
fixed and defiant in his own right I’m told,
was a lucky man to have been loved by her.

I always have
and I always will.

Night driving.

Traffic lights reflect on the street
bright and flickering
yellow, red, green
from the wetness that has filmed the concrete.

The cold isn’t quite enough
to form ice yet
but soon the day will come.

And I’m not ready.

golden.

Fall, even when it makes me miss things that happened in what seems like a previous life, is cleansing, and it makes me feel creative.

I finally picked up my camera yesterday. It felt good. I missed it. Does that sound weird? That I missed my camera? Well, if it does, then color me weird.

not on repeat.

Let’s go back to where we started
when you smiled
and I sang,
to where we got along
and talked about things
that actually mattered,
to where a friendship stood
strong and soft and silly
(before love ruined it),
to where we could still
make each other happy.

I want to say
let’s go back and start over
but what if I wasn’t okay
in the first place?

leaving.

the way you sat in your chair
back arched just as to hide your face
behind the wall from the others here,

the nervousness that stretched
each time you smiled,

the constant rhythmic tap of nails
on the edge of your crystal glass
filled to the top with strong wine.

it all should have told me
how contradictory your “I love you”s were
that night right there in our restaurant.

But my wine sat heavily too
and frankly it didn’t matter.
It never really mattered.

I didn’t miss you until I realized
you wouldn’t be coming back.

Thoughts.

I haven’t done a “thoughts” post in a very long time, and I realized that I need to start up again. I have things I want to say, but not enough about each topic to make an entire blog for each. Does that make any kind of sense? Anyway, here goes:

–My new stretched canvas is going on my “prized possession” list. Not only because it is of a photo that I took (and love), but because it is simply glistening on my new shelf. Photos of it to come sometime soon.

–Since rearranging and purging the bedroom, I am less stressed. Seriously, the more in order “things” are, the calmer I am. Love it.

–I have been writing a LOT lately, and you’ve probably noticed by the consistent posting over the past days. Love it too.

–I have been putting off the job search, just trying to figure out exactly what I want to do, but I have got to get on it soon. Life won’t wait for me forever (unfortunately!).

–Chiefs won one. Probably the only one this season, but hey, we won!!

–They closed Taco Bueno on 21st Street. I might die of hunger now. Thanks TB bosses! Geesh.

glances.

You with the blue-gray eyes
the ones with which you catch me staring
the ones that speak loudly their own language,
good, bad, sweet and sad.
You with those eyes
that just chill me until I shiver, sting on my skin.

And you move me something fierce,
somewhere deep and hot
somewhere no one else does
somewhere no one else can.
You move me in ways
that make all the others seem mild.

Questions haven’t been asked,
answers aren’t being offered,
but I wait with this between us
heavy and thick
slow-moving and sugary like molasses.

Yes, this is sweet.

It is you, comfortable
in the safety of your silence,
that can give me hope
and keep me waiting
for our eyes to catch again
to tell me which direction
I’ll be driving home tonight.

It’s always in your eyes.

notice.

dance around
on your dainty feet
and make yourself feel pretty.

dress in pink
or red
or purple
in satin or in lace
and paint your lips
with some shimmer too.

be just as girly
as you want to be.
feel just as beautiful
as you want to feel.

And remember
you are the only one.

flirtation.

He found me among the glittery bar lights
and loud karaoke
and introduced himself
in a white shirt, blue jeans and killer smile.

This one wasn’t so ordinary.
In fact, he was nothing short of extraordinary.

I got his number,
or maybe he got mine,
but either way he sent me a :)
(it was almost as good as the real deal)
and called me silly
(how did he know?).

He didn’t kiss me
until the next time I saw him
after a night of beer, IHOP,
and a week full of anticipation.
His kiss was even better
than his smile
(somehow I knew it would be).

He’s so far past extraordinary.

fabulous.

After months of anticipation, the big night came. Kristi came to Kansas City! I tried to wrangle a bunch of people together to go party, but since this was a birthday weekend for 3 of my friends, most of the crew stayed in Topeka. But that was okay because we had plenty of fun with just a few of us.

My friend Justin and I arrived in KC around 7, and Kristi and her dad were waiting on us. I could see them in the lobby as we were coming across the skywalk of the hotel, and I was so excited! It’s been almost 4 years since we last saw each other in Lincoln so we were long overdue for a visit.

We went to find somewhere to eat. The streets and buildings are weird around the Power & Light District in KC so we had to go searching for the accessible entrance of the burger place we decided on. On the way there was some guy puking in the flowers along the side of the road. It was mean, but we all kind of laughed at him. It must have been a really good college football day for him or something because it was only 7:15 or so, and he was tore up. Finally we found the entrance we needed and warmed up a bit while we ate.

When we were done, Kristi’s dad (who is a huge sweetheart, I love him) went back to the hotel, and Justin, Kristi, and I headed for the bars. I have a friend (Kristi calls him my boy toy, lol) that works at the PBR Big Sky bar, so we decided to go watch him knock people off the bull. My buddy Aaron arrived after he got off work, and by then, the three of us were ready to start partying. Unfortunately the bull broke down, and BoyToy and his buddies were running around trying to fix him. I wish Kristi could have seen the hilarity that ensues when drunk people get on that thing!

I don’t really know how many beers/amaretto sours we drank, but it was enough to make things fun. We danced and sang and laughed almost the entire time. And we sent inappropriate texts to BoyToy just to make him laugh. :)

Some dumbo drunk that was standing behind us tapped me on the shoulder and asked me “Are you really in a wheelchair?” Uh, yes. “Well, you don’t LOOK like you should be in a wheelchair.” I couldn’t believe it really. It was like he was accusing me of faking, and it kind of caught me off guard. My friend Justin told him “Ya know, you could have asked her how she was doing first!” lol. I politely told the guy that he was ignorant, and then he must have gone somewhere else.

A guy from Souix Falls was there too. What a place to see someone—5+ hours away! And that guy was liking Kristi!!! Not kidding. He was going for her lungs with his tongue! I was sitting there like “wth is going on with him? Who does he think he is?” Of course, the beer was making me a little bit brave, and I must have been shooting him some dirty looks. I didn’t know who he was, but it made more sense when Kristi said he was from Souix Falls too.

Two more guys in chairs that I know, Mike and Brian, came through too, but we didn’t get to chat with them much. We’ll just have to schedule that next time Kristi is able to make it to KC.

At some point, we quit drinking and switched to water. It, plus the cold, sobered us up pretty quick as soon as we stepped outside.

While we were walking Kristi back to her hotel, we had another funny moment. I was in the lead, and there in the bushes not very far from where we saw the guy puking earlier was a different guy, laying flat on his back in the bushes. Now mind you, it was like 30 degrees, and who knows how long he had been lying there. So the guys helped him up, and kinda posted him up on the wall, after he said he was okay. Some friends that guy must have to let him wander off and pass out in the bushes!

The clincher of the night: Kristi forgot her room number. The hotel is huge and has like 28 floors, and she only knew that the last 2 numbers were -40. Nobody was at the desk downstairs so somehow one of us (I don’t remember who) came up with the brilliant idea of going floor to floor and trying the card in each door that ended in -40. Justin did the running, while Aaron, Kristi, and I waited by the elevator on each floor. It was quite hilarious. On I think the 8th or 9th floor, 2 really nice young men invited us to church this morning. How cute, huh! Those poor boys probably thought we needed church!

Anyway, the lucky floor was 11. We made sure she got in her room safe and sound, then headed home. At some point on the drive home Justin told me “You and Kristi are so much alike that it’s scary. You are definitely wild.” But I don’t call it wild. I just think we know how to have a good time. ;)

I haven’t had so much fun in quite a long time, and Kristi and I both have decided that we’re not waiting another 4 years to meet up again!

Kristi and I.

In the elevator at the end of the night, figuring out which room might be hers.

Three stooges.

Soooomebody had fun!

forgetting is the hard part.

The forgetting is the hard part.
Because everything I so desperately want to forget
is everything that has helped mold me into the person I am right at this minute.
And I like who I am.

The heavy hurt,
like someone had lain upon my body and was suffocating me with their weight,
the tears that never seemed to end,
the grieving of a friendship that was beyond broken,
the ache that comes with a first lost love,
the hopelessness, the desertion,
the deep fiery red hatred for someone you had once been inseparable from,
the insecurities that plagued each day.

It was all worth something, even though the cost knocked me down.
I eventually stood my ground, smiled at the sun, and knew that I could do this.
I am this.
I am this.