I've decided to start an experiment where I take a writing prompt from a book I got called "642 Tiny Things to Write About" and then expand on it here. Hoping this leads to inspiration to write on at least a semi-regular basis.
Write about a time you broke...
A bone: "I haven't broken one yet! I came close recently when I slipped on a stick and fell on my hand. Doctor said it was just a contusion, they gave me Norco anyway." It happened in September, just when the sun was starting to set a little earlier. The trees must have been shedding because there were sticks all over the streets and sidewalks, those short but fat ones. This one blended into the street. I was wearing my Danskos and when my shoe rolled over the stick, I did the most spectacular pratfall, where I tried to catch myself by running a few steps, but fell over anyway, bracing myself with my left hand. Of course there were people around, and I heard a couple across the street say, "Ouch!" Another guy asked if I was okay, and I just got up and laughed it off. When I got inside I definitely felt achey. I wrapped my hand up in a bandage and took some Advil. Trench was worried I broke it because that's how he broke his hand years ago. We went to the immediate care center and they xrayed it. They said it was a contusion, which is basically a bruise, gave me a brace to wear and a prescription for extra strong Norco, which floored my pharmacy tech husband. I work with my hands at my job, and really should have taken a week off, but figured I didn't have to because it was my left hand and I'm a righty. All the same, it didn't heal completely until a few weeks later when I went on vacation for a long weekend. Next time I'll just stay home so it can properly heal, but hopefully there won't be a next time because I've had my eyes glued to the sidewalks while I walk home ever since it happened.
A heart: "Pretty sure it was L. In the phone call that ended it, he said he knew he was a rebound. He was right." I recently re-read my journal from that summer I dated L. I was definitely kind of a jerk to him. L, if you're reading this, I'm sorry I was a jerk. I was 20, had just gotten my own heart broken from my first boyfriend, and just enjoying dating someone where things weren't complicated. Until it got complicated. We broke up the day after my birthday. I was mad at him because he was trying to blow off hanging out with me that day. He was mad at me because I had spent my 21st birthday with my best friend instead of him. No regrets on that. He said, "I know I'm just your rebound." I said, "Then maybe we should end this." Because I couldn't say, "No you're not."
The law: "When I worked at a beauty supply store, I discovered I could shoplift without consequence, and I did. Inventory didn't even catch it." That entire job was a cluster of crazy, and I have no regrets about anything bad I might have done there. One coworker was a guy. We were so far away from each others types that we were able to become good friends without any sort of attraction to each other. We'd close together and smoke pot in the back office. When I turned 21 he called me days later and asked if I'd buy him a keg...not just beer, but a whole keg. And I did. We laughed our asses off when we found out we'd both been taking whatever we wanted from the store when we closed by ourselves. This is why you don't hire 18 year olds and then leave them unsupervised! I've never done that at any job since, but it was fun to be bad just once.
A promise: "I honestly can't think of one, but there must be something. I do try not to make promises I can't keep." I'm still thinking of this one, but except for kid stuff, I really can't come up with anything. Maybe the promise to not shoplift from your job? I try hard to practice "radical honesty" in my life. Not just for my own morality, but that's also where my dry, blunt humor comes from. I'm sure that there are people out there who might not agree with this, and have distinct memories of me breaking a promise to them. If you're out there, I'm sorry.
