Author Archive: barrelmakersdaughter.com
It’s My Write
“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” – Cyril Connolly Introverts like myself often experiment with methods of connecting to others, avoiding small talk and gatherings as much as possible. On one hand, protecting our needed quiet time and recharging our batteries alone …
Little Women
Hostile work environments are nothing new. For females, sadly they are also nothing old. In this day and age of presumed enlightenment they exist, dinosaurs that missed the memo alerting of their extinction. These are environments where the word feminist is preceded by the word militant. Where the women are referred to as girls. Literally, …
A resilient heart
Broken hearts mend, but they never quite resemble what existed before. When you sweep up the shattered pieces, even the best adhesive can’t produce an exact replica, for some shards are lost permanently and don’t make it into the re-built heart. It is altered forever. It is still a beautiful heart, though–worthy of the respect, …
Watch your step!
Carelessness comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it is a true lack of feelings for others, and sometimes it is mere laziness or selfishness. Sometimes it is an outright act, and sometimes it is an act of omission. You never know when the carelessness of another will cause you to slip and fall–usually figuratively. …
Fish out of water
It was likely my obsession with food (and my strong opinions about it) that led to me dining at one of the LAST places anyone who knows me would ever picture me going to willingly. Am I prissy? Yes. Am I prim and proper? Yes. Am I uptight? Oh, yes. So, how is it …
Twists and turns
We rise each morning thinking we know how the day will go. We check the calendar, the to-do list, the appointment schedule and off we go to face what we presume will be the day we anticipate. So often we walk through our day-to-day existence wearing virtual blinders. But now and again, life has a …
Sharing the path
I can’t say for certain whose gait was more labored and stiff-legged–the elderly man or the graying black terrier he walked on a leash. I greeted them this morning with a nod, a smile, and a hello when we passed, walking in opposite directions on the circular path around a large pond. When I neared …
Crushed
One small flower, pressed in the pages of a large old book, falls out gently into my lap. Crushed flat by time and the weight of the pages enfolding her, she’s now merely a remnant of the life and beauty she once held. Color faded, brittle and crumbling–yet someone once thought enough of her to …
Most Agreeable
Day camp. Adler Park. Summer of 1973. I can’t tell you if it lasted two weeks, four weeks, or six weeks. I can tell you it felt like years and taught me a painful truth about my value in the hierarchy of my peers; a truth that has been hard to shake. I was ten …
Dust
Greeted, needed, he moves around the room, Each requires a piece, just a very small piece, As they chip away the lining of his enormous heart, Not one sees the resulting holes. Please help, do this, be here, don’t leave, His gift becomes his curse, How can they not see the toll it takes? …
barrelmakersdaughter 