Snippets of Writings – Day 18

28-Day Personal Challenge

I did a 21-Day Writing Challenge a few years back (if you consider seven a few) and thought I’d share a few snippets of those writings.

What the Challenge Was

The actual name of the challenge was: 21 Moments Writing Challenge with Christina Katz. During the challenge, she would send a moment in literature every day for 21 days. We would read each piece and then compose our own moment.

Snippets of Writing #1 – One Mundane Moment

Jay picked me up from my house and we went to the gravel lot his father owned.

It was a sunny day. Summer. We’d been out of school for a few weeks. We walked through the lot, between tractors and other machines. Jay was mad, not at me, at his father.

He plucked a small headlight bulb out of an old decrepit vehicle and smashed it between his hands. Words were not exchanged. I thought his hands would be covered in glass and blood. When he opened them the glass fell off. I don’t recall blood.

He kicked an item, but my mind is foggy on what it was or what it did. I could have stopped him, but I understood that anger. The items weren’t of use. They served no purpose other than to rot away in the weather. He was releasing steam and I let him have that time.

Eventually, we sat in the old Impala. Just sat there side-by-side. I inspected his hand for glass. He inspected mine for nothing other than something to do. I told him he should cut his nails. He told me I should grow mine.

Snippets of Writings #2 – Demise of a Marriage

• Rent: $600
• Car Payment: $150
• Childcare, electricity, garbage, insurance, gas, food, and necessities.

Thus began the list I made as I sat on my bed, apartment and used-car pamphlets splayed across the comforter.

I’d decided to leave my husband. I didn’t trust him to pay child support or spousal support. So I poured through job wanted ads, circling anything that seemed possible and even aiming high once in a while.

Match the pay and the hours of the job ads to the cost of an apartment and other necessities, then start over again.

When it became overwhelming, I would stop and debate if I was making the best choice. I would think of the most recent issues and decide, “yes.” Leaving was absolutely necessary. When the costs exceeded the pay, I’d pace around the manufactured home we rented, then pick up all the materials and begin again in a new location: couch, dining table, floor.

I guess I hoped the different locations would provide a better insight to my financial situation. I didn’t expect anything when I left, no furniture, no money, no help. It was necessary to get out and necessary to get to that point.

Snippets of Writings #3 – The Body Part Drawer

“Well let me see that wrist,” Aggie said. She touched and prodded and twisted and turned my arm. “Well, I don’t think it’s broken.”

“I’ll be fine, Aggie.”

“Let’s take a peek in the drawer of body parts and see what we can do.”

Most people would assume that Aggie is a witch or some sadistic murderess who sews people back together ala Frankenstein. But if you know Aggie, you know she is more injury-prone than the whole town combined.

She’s twisted her ankle so many times it should face backward. She’s broken both wrists, fractured her collar bone, dislocates at least one shoulder a year, has runner’s knee even though she’s never run, broken her jaw and a cheekbone while, of all things, dancing. The woman is the poster child for super-glued bones. Every Christmas kids leave milk for Aggie in hopes her bones strengthen.

We go to the body parts drawer and Aggie starts pulling pieces out. Ace bandage in Ace bandage beige. Elbow support, wrist support, thumb brace, knee brace, silicone wrap for the wrist, foot boot, sling, three different colors and textures of more Ace-like bandages.

She pulls out a sleeve, “Aha!” and flings it toward me. Just as I catch it, she snatches it away, “oops, nope not that one, this one.”

She flings another wrap at me I catch it, “Geez, Aggie, you almost took out my eye.”

“No worries,” she says and tosses me an eye patch.

Previous 28-Day Personal Challenge Posts

• Day 1
• 2- Finding Focus
• 3 – Distraction-Free Writing Tips
• 4 – My Morning Routine
• 5 – Random Lesson
• 6 – Benefits of Basics
• 7 – Favorite YouTube Channels
• 8 – He Doesn’t Bite
• 9 – Now What Are You Going To Do?
• 10 – Challenge Check-In
• 11 – The Struggle
• 12 – Revisit Previous Material
• 13 – Diet and Exercise Basics
• 14 – ReTool the Plan
• 15 – Favorite Ways to DeStress
• 16 – Adenomyosis
• 17 – Life’s Little Moments