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| Mr. Lemonhead - my first lemony friend |
A journey into cleaning up a big pile of..... hoard
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Unfinished
by Janet S. Tiger
(c) 2015 all rights reserved
tigerteam1@gmail.com
I find a travel bag that I used when I was 17, going around this great country by bus. I carried that bag over many states, let's see if touching the plastic outside, still tough after 47 years, will remind me. California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, both Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada. Twenty-six that first trip. I can close my eyes and see some of the beauty still. Or was that beauty from a subsequent trip to see my plays produced in Iowa? Or a trip up the coast right before I met my husband?
I have seen almost every state - it takes less room to list the ones I have yet to see. Alaska. Arkansas. West Virginia. Did I see Vermont or sleep through it? What about Kentucky and Tennessee? Did the local bus veer through them while I dozed in the heat? I do not recall something specific from every single state. The bus stop cafes are amazingly similar. The memories are flooding back, a tsunami of visions, emotions, tastes, people. Many, many people. Perhaps I hoard people like I hoard things. Yet so many are gone - PA (passed away), MNF (moved no forwarding) or JLITMOT (just lost in the mists of time.)
Can I ever discard this bag? I am going to try. For I have realized that all the memories are in there someplace, like the old vegetables I use in the special stew I make for my diabetic husband. He can eat any vegetable, so I get all the wilting ones from the crisper and throw them into the combo in the frying pan along with the chicken or fish and coconut oil. It never tastes the same twice - but it is never untasty. And some of the combinations are delicious. Just like I hope my writing can be. Like the people I have met over the years, with all their amazing stories. A lot of different flavors, brought together by the only common denominator - me.
Yes, I hoard fruits and vegetables, too.
And have even written a play, MR. LEMONHEAD, about a lemon who became a friend.
Hmm, maybe I'd better get back to de-cluttering. Goodbye for today - I will leave, as always, some things unfinished.......
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I find a travel bag that I used when I was 17, going around this great country by bus. I carried that bag over many states, let's see if touching the plastic outside, still tough after 47 years, will remind me. California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, both Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada. Twenty-six that first trip. I can close my eyes and see some of the beauty still. Or was that beauty from a subsequent trip to see my plays produced in Iowa? Or a trip up the coast right before I met my husband?
I have seen almost every state - it takes less room to list the ones I have yet to see. Alaska. Arkansas. West Virginia. Did I see Vermont or sleep through it? What about Kentucky and Tennessee? Did the local bus veer through them while I dozed in the heat? I do not recall something specific from every single state. The bus stop cafes are amazingly similar. The memories are flooding back, a tsunami of visions, emotions, tastes, people. Many, many people. Perhaps I hoard people like I hoard things. Yet so many are gone - PA (passed away), MNF (moved no forwarding) or JLITMOT (just lost in the mists of time.)
Can I ever discard this bag? I am going to try. For I have realized that all the memories are in there someplace, like the old vegetables I use in the special stew I make for my diabetic husband. He can eat any vegetable, so I get all the wilting ones from the crisper and throw them into the combo in the frying pan along with the chicken or fish and coconut oil. It never tastes the same twice - but it is never untasty. And some of the combinations are delicious. Just like I hope my writing can be. Like the people I have met over the years, with all their amazing stories. A lot of different flavors, brought together by the only common denominator - me.
Yes, I hoard fruits and vegetables, too.
And have even written a play, MR. LEMONHEAD, about a lemon who became a friend.
Hmm, maybe I'd better get back to de-cluttering. Goodbye for today - I will leave, as always, some things unfinished.......
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Janet S. Tiger 858-736-6315
JanetSTigerMonologueMania.blogspot.com
JanetSTigerMonologueMania.blogspot.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
Very enjoyable writing. Sometimes I laugh so hard and unexpectedly that I have to pause briefly. "Yes, I hoard fruits and vegetables, too." near the end is another good one that I enjoyed for a few seconds before I could get back to reading. You're good.
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