Carousel

There were five kids in our family and we lived in the state of Rhode Island. Our growing years were the 50’s and 60’s. Even though our parents were divorced, I never felt deprived of anything because our father would take my brother Ronnie and I to many places our mother couldn’t afford; on the other hand, our mother would take us to more of the cultural events like ice skating exhibits, ballets, plays and art museums. Therefore, I do have fond memories despite the divorce.

I suppose it was because Ronnie and I were the middle kids that we got to go more places more often than the others. We were old enough to enjoy things, but Ann was a teenager and off doing teenage things, and the twins were three handfuls. We went to amusement parks, theme parks, horseback riding, drive-ins, and we even got to go to Quebec, Canada to see my father’s relatives. It’s no fun when you don’t speak French, and everyone else in Quebec does and … your father makes you order French toast. My father thought it was funny that the waitress couldn’t understand me but he made me go to the counter and continue to try to explain what I wanted in spite of the lack of my language skills.

There were five kids in our family and we lived in the state of Rhode Island. Our growing years were the 50’s and 60’s. Even though our parents were divorced, I never felt deprived of anything because our father would take my brother Ronnie and I to many places our mother couldn’t afford; on the other hand, our mother would take us to more of the cultural events like ice skating exhibits, ballets, plays and art museums. Therefore, I do have fond memories despite the divorce.

I suppose it was because Ronnie and I were the middle kids that we got to go more places more often than the others. We were old enough to enjoy things, but Ann was a teenager and off doing teenage things, and the twins were three handfuls. We went to amusement parks, theme parks, horseback riding, drive-ins, and we even got to go to Quebec, Canada to see my father’s relatives. It’s no fun when you don’t speak French, and everyone else in Quebec does and … your father makes you order French toast. My father thought it was funny that the waitress couldn’t understand me but he made me go to the counter and continue to try to explain what I wanted in spite of the lack of my language skills.

Advertisement

Marry the Guy Who

This was sent to me by a friend some time ago. Credit for the writing was not cited. So this is by anonymous.

Will go on long walks with you. He will want to know who 
she is, why she is and how she does things. 
She will feel searched out, he will seek to understand her past, 
her past explains why she is the way she is. 
Her battles will become his battles, her joy his joy. 
A serious man has no time to pretend to be a man he is not; 
he wants her to know him for who he truly is. 
Because he sees her in his future, as his wife; 
he will not hesitate to correct her when she wrongs,
 confront her when she strays, 
direct her to opportunities or challenge her to be better. 
A man who is working on a stable future will not waste 
his wealth today just to please the woman. 
He will not take a loan to impress her or go into debt to win her. 
He would rather enjoy today with her within his limit  
as he invests in a better future. 
Will allow himself to be vulnerable to the woman to 
empower her to show him love. 

When he is lost, discouraged, down, in need of assistance,
 broke or hurting he will lean on her and confide in her. 
Her love will be the oasis he runs to. 
The more she looks at him the more he will look like a 
husband and father in waiting. He will handle 
her like his wife even though they are not yet married. 
Unfaithfulness will be unheard of; disrespecting her 
will not be an option. Because he wants her to have 
a stake in his future, he will seek her opinion before 
making a move. He will slowly fix himself in her friends 
and family circle. He wants to appear as the man 
making inroads to her heart, he will not hide from
 the people he could be interacting with a lot in the future.
 Know his friends, his siblings, 
where he hangs out, where he comes from. 

He will not make her feel she is the only one interested but 
will initiate conversations, ask her out and miss her greatly 
or feel bad if for one reason or another they can’t spend time. 
She will catch him staring at her with a look of awe, 
a warm look captured by her beauty and wanting 
that beauty all to him. “His face will have a sense of good
 mystery” will feel bad about letting her down, disappointing 
her, offending her or falling short. He knows he can’t be
 perfect but it hurts knowing she hurts even the slightest 
bit because of him. He will be quick to say sorry.  He knows 
the weight and honor of the words “I love you” 
When he says it he means it and will take 
responsibility for it every day till the end. 
This man will have a unique way of bringing out a
 side in her that other men can’t. As she sees a husband
 in him, she sees day by day a wife in herself 
He will treat her like his Queen 
She will be special to him. Period!

The Year of Hurricanes

Nothing was as memorable to me as the hurricane seasons of 1954-1955, which we waited out in the basement of our little house on Sand Pond Rd. The sounds of the raging winds, and debris hitting our home, will be forever etched in the corners of my mind. I will never forget hurricanes Carol, Edna, Hazel, Connie, and Diane. They wreaked havoc on our little house in Norwood, RI (As it was known then) I had Rheumatic Fever at the time, but I hardly remember that. Traumatic events leave vivid memories even at that tender age of four.

On August 31, 1954, hurricane Carol hit the shores of New England. We watched the winds pick up blowing the trees in one direction and now and then they would sway back and forth in the winds; but it wasn’t long before our mother herded the five of us into the basement where she thought we would be safe from the debris.

The basement was dark and we had no lights now. As we listened silently with our childlike excitement, we were left to what our imagination would conjure up. I wondered what was happening upstairs and my thoughts were mixed with fear and each of us imagining what was happening outside. The walls themselves seemed to shudder as if they felt chilled to the bone each time the wind gusts would reach their peak of 130 mph.

Imagine You’re A House

---

I would be…

Lately I was asked to imagine that I was a house. In detail, tell what kind of house I would be and why. This is what I came up with. I have not been asked that kind of question in a very long time. It was fun to use my imagination and I thought about this and I came up with a story that included both my imagination and based on real life. I imagined a house that would have been ideal for the six of us as a family, and mom still could have had her beauty shop in the house so she could be home with us and not have to hire a sitter.

I had to stop and think about when I was a child and what kind of a house we lived in when we were growing up. There were five of us kids, and our mom, and only 3 actual bedrooms. Of course mom got a bedroom all to herself, and now there are two bedrooms. Since my sister was a teenager and eight years older than me, she got the bedroom upstairs. Now there is only one bedroom left. The twins were small, and so they got their own bedroom which was the last one; which left my brother and I without a room to sleep in. My mother was a single mom in the 50’s, so she was good at making do with what she had. There was a space that was small, it was part of the attic and there was a chimney running straight through it with just enough room on each side of the chimney for a twin bed. So we now had a make-shift bedroom. My brother and I slept in the attic, one on each side of the chimney. Of course, since this was just a space not an actual room, there were no doors. It didn’t really matter, we were both under ten.

I took a long look at the house as I would have liked it, only from an adults’ eyes; and based on my mothers’ experiences, what would have made her comfortable and able to cope with life without a lot of the hassles, and inconveniences she had to put up with which would have made life a bit more easy to cope with.

caressing the once touched

---

pictures by Aimee-Lee Bleim more

---

His expression of the subject is deeply heartfelt and fits so perfectly for the one who needs to hear these words from that one finally found who sees; really sees you and does knowingly understand. Below is his site, please visit him and see more of his insightful poems

Posted onMarch 12, 2019 by srijan.

---

oh my beloved, i wish to find you near
only to find your palm syncing with that of mine
and oh my love, how beautiful did it feel,
as i felt it on my cheek
only to lean in and paint my lips on your cheeks
while oh my love, i lived my dream
of being the only
jewel that oh my love, rests tonight
on your sky-like bold eyes

oh my love, i wish to apologize
for peeking deeper in those eyes
for oh I’m still a mere stranger
but oh my love, now as i have
only to feel the pain, that you’ve been hiding
oh my love, i want you to
perform it to, all of me

oh my love, let my embrace be your stage
and oh my beloved, recite your pain as if it’s the poetry,
you were born to write
oh sing your scars to me, my love
paint this nightmare, to me tonight
only to never return to it, ever again
for oh my love, all the pain that you felt in your past
will become your strength tomorrow
and oh my love, i shall promise you
that oh until i stand beside you
no form of pain,
would oh my love, be able to breach your thoughts

oh how my love, when your lips let out the echo of you sobbing
as you reminisced one last time
about that day,
when oh my love, you felt the,
stranger coldness strolling on your bare chest
only to leave you still, in oh a state of shock
while his fun touch became the highlight of your life

oh my love, the unsaid was never said
for i was still, gazing in your eyes
with you on my lap
and oh my love, my lips breezed in
to meet those of yours
and oh how my love, once locked
they began their journey, that will lead us; breathless

oh my love, while oh you were in my arms
with your lip on mine
all wrapped up, i peeked at the corners and the edges
of your heart, and imagined the sight
only to my love, swear on my own self
to do all that i ever could,
such that my love, you never have to revisit these again

oh my love, how i felt
the salt in your tears, as it reached my lip
for oh my love, you knew
that i knew, what remained unheard for years

oh my love, i told you
as to how beautifully these tears
adorn you, and oh are the only pearls
that could make you look exquisite
but only when you were smiling, love

oh my love, the was gazing at things he find pretty
only to imitate you, in her own way
and oh my love, look how beautifully she painted you
for oh it rained, whilst the sun still shined bright

oh my love, I’ll make you forget the times
you spent trying to fade his touch
from your body
only to oh my love, caress all of you
in my own layers of poetry
that my love, will be the warmth you’d ever need
only to witness my love, as and when you’d read them
for you’d my love, feel the softness of the comfort,
that oh my love would put you to sleep,
on nights when oh i’d be away

oh my love, i ask forgiveness
for all the bad, that has been done to you

let me, my love
take care of you, for that has always been my dream

oh let me, my dear
feel you, in my arms
while you feel my breath, lingering over your naked skin
as my love, i was kissing my way through all of you

and oh my love, a day shall come
when all my love, that would had been surrounding you
for oh so long, would dissolve
just like my love, the moon dissolves itself in the dark sky
to end all darkness.

and oh my love, then there will be no more reasons for you to hide
or have nights when you would feel alone; unable to sleep
for oh my love, in the end
when we’d be one and together
the only thing that oh my love
would come to your mind
would be me smiling, for oh i’ll be there until forever
reciting to only you.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.