Keep Truckin'

It seems impossible to reach like old age to the young. Steps are never big enough, rarely satisfying. And because I live in Texas, the cliche "I think I can" becomes "keep truckin'." This annoys me and makes me laugh.

The days I fantasize about quitting haunt me on days like this one. On my desk, ceramic stockings filled with candy, candles, cards, and candy canes wish me "happy holidays," and hugs squeeze me, a reminder there are fifteen-year-olds that miss me.

Response

It is not about doing; it is about deserving.

Unable

She no longer wore her seatbelt—unable to take her own life but providing God with invented opportunities.

Yesterday her parents had praised her life, revealing their pride in her choices. She listened, smiled, realizing that on the surface her life seemed almost perfect, like a snow globe: serene, confined, unaware of its own insignificance.

And she sighed, knowing her mother and father would die in her death.