The Daily Me (Journal) Familiar Memory – 01/03/17

Today’s prompt comes via Writing Our Way Home, as part of the email section of the course Journaling Your Way Home. (Note: If you’d like to join in, you can purchase the course at the Journaling Your Way Home address above to receive both the e-book and the emails)

“Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.”
~E. L. Doctorow

Start with a familiar memory. Re-enter it. Live it again. Let go into fantasy if you like. Go where the writing takes you.

You know how you can smell something and it takes you back in time to a memory? I did that this morning. I was refiling my humidifier and suddenly smelt salt water. It made no sense. There’s nothing salty about the mist from the humidifier, but there it was anyway. Salt water. My mind instantly drifted back in time to the mid-to-late 90s when I was attending Hollins College and my friend Claire and I would take Spring Break trips to Nags Head. Suddenly, I was there again – walking along the sandy shore, listening to the Ocean breathing, and feeling the cool salt water on my face. I felt her calling me, enticing me to join her, to be one with her. She has that effect on me, lulling me into a state of complete bliss.

I am pulled into her foam-green petticoats, swirling around with her, allowing myself to drift further out and under. I feel the pressure as she gently coaxes me to go deeper and deeper. I want to be with her. To become her. To be inexplicably one with her and never resurface. I don’t worry that I am made of flesh and blood. I am also made of water and can, therefore, become water. I watch as schools of fish swim by. They are as curious of me as I am of them. What is a human doing so deep? Is she out of her mind? Surely she will drown, or perhaps she will adapt. I’d like to adapt, grow my own gills so I never have to leave this place. Then I could not only be one with the Ocean, but also one with the dolphins, whales and sharks.

In the distance, I hear a raven cawing and am lifted from the sea. There is a war going on inside of me. A battle between the call of the Ocean and the call of the Raven. To be deep in the sea, or soaring through the air. I want to be with both, but I know that I cannot. I realize it is my dual nature as part Gemini and part Cancer, a cuspie. To be of Air and Water. In my mind, I return to my mountains feeling wholly unsatisfied and wanting.

The Sandbox Writing Challenge #69 — What I want to be when I grow up – again!

This prompt from Calen comes from Self-Discovery Journal. A little creative imagining just before Christmas.

If you were to be reborn again,
what would you like to be reborn as?

This should come as no surprise to some of my readers here. A raven. To me, they are such majestic birds, with their blue-black coloring, their intoxicating caws, and how devoted they are to one another. I would love to experience that kind of loyalty. I get transfixed if I see or hear a raven. The affinity I have with them leads me to believe if I were reborn here on Earth, it would definitely be as a raven. Unless the Universe really is a cruel jokester. I wouldn’t care that I’d have to eat roadkill and toss-outs. I would be free to soar and search out my dinner. It would be a perfect life.

Share Your World – 2016 Week 3

for Cee’s Share Your World

What is your favorite piece of art? (it doesn’t have to be famous)

art credit: Blue Dancers by Edgar Degas

I actually love all of his ballerina paintings, but this is by far my favorite

What made you smile today?

It is bitterly cold outside and yet the ravens are still hanging around. I went out this morning and tossed some bread crumbs about for them. They came. They devoured the bread. Cawed for me as a thank you. This made me smile brightly in the cold morning air.

Which place do you recommend as a Must-See? Please state which country, state or providence.

I’ve not traveled much, so I don’t really know any Must-See places. The one place that brings me joy is The Outer Banks of North Carolina, USA. It is gorgeous, serene most of the year and the beaches are beautiful. And I’ve heard that wild horses run the beach during some parts of the year. I’ve never seen this, but it is my desire to do so.

Complete this sentence: When I was younger I used to….

pretend that I was an only child. It drove my two siblings and my mother crazy.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Last week is a blur, but this is not uncommon for me. I guess if anything bad happened, I am grateful I cannot remember it… but I honestly don’t think anything bad did happen. If it was good, well thanks! but next time send me a memory card!

This week I am looking forward to hopefully some snow. It should arrive Thurs or Fri. Please let it snow!