WOYH :: Small Scrapes and Bruises

This is my third time to take Kira Elliott's Writing to Open Your Heart workshop and I'm *really* enjoying the writing, companionship, and Kira's gentle way of helping to put the writers at ease and providing a safe container for us.  

I wanted to share my favorite piece that came out of last night's writing prompts.

From Memory or Imagination, write about Small Scrapes and Bruises

She’d had a lot done and so she was used to the big scars on her body… well, mostly. These new ones were so small she wasn’t really even sure they should count. Still, the hairline red scrapes and purple-yellowish bruises weren’t going away and it had been 6 weeks since she fell.

Sipping her almost-too hot chamomile tea, she sunk a little deeper into her deep blue tweed covered rocker recliner. This morning ritual of hers was one of the deep pleasures in her life. Setting her cheerful hand-painted mug with the bright red poppies down, she leaned back, closed her eyes and started to rock. It brought a soft smile to her face to hear the old familiar creak as the chair, which used to be her father’s, soothingly rocked back and forth. Almost without thinking about it, she gently rubbed the fingers of her left hand over the still tender places on her right forearm.

Taking a deep breath, she welcomed a moment to savor the calming effect of her quiet time before her busy day started. While it wasn’t easy at first, with time, practice, and patience, she had gotten quite good at letting everything that was tugging at her be while she relished these few precious minutes. Grinning to herself, she was actually proud of how some days? It had become a game, this letting things be just as they are. What was it her mama used to always say to her? “Girl, this ain’t brain surgery. You can let loose of that one!”

As they always did, thoughts of her mother brought a whole basket of bittersweet memories to her heart. Gracious, she missed her mama! Had it really been almost 19 years ago that she died from liver cancer? Some days it felt like it all happened yesterday.

Taking a peek at the clock, she realized she only had five more minutes. Well, unless she skipped her morning shower, as she often did. Weighing the day ahead and the refreshment she was gaining by just rocking and being, she decided to sit for another 15 minutes.  But after that she knew that she absolutely had to get up and get started on the rest of her day. 

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