CottageGirlPatty

…courted me for year.

…first knocked on my door when I became paralyzed.  It was an accident, the paralysis.  I was five years old.  My brother and I had been pushing each other all day, but the game ended abruptly.  The push sent me flailing off the porch backwards.  I struggled futilely.  My arms frantically trying to grasp something to stop the fall, coming back with nothing but air.

…stood at…

You may think you know who I am.  You see me around campus.  In that clique.  You call me the jock!

I see the way you look at me; wishing you were part of this group.  Thinking some guys have all the luck.  Sure, I really got it made.

Everyday I go to practice know that this is my one shot to make something of myself because I know I’m not that smart.

Everyday I go home from a game I know I’m…

You may think you know who I am.

I know you talk about me behind my back, making snide comments about my clothes, my shoes, whatever.  I ride the same bus as you.  You see where I get on and I hear you snicker as I get on the bus & then stop suddenly when I make eye contact.

It’s no real news to me that I am poor.  I know that I don’t have a lot of nice things.  My parents can’t afford to buy me…

You may think you know who I am.  You pass me on the corner on your way into work.  I have the same clothes on my body, the same sign in my hands everyday.

Homeless Vet.  Pleas Help.  God Bless.

You look at the sidewalk when you hurry past.  Eye contact is forbidden.  Eye contact might stimulate feelings of misplaced pity for a guy who should quit hunting for hand-outs and start hunting for a…

You may think you know who I am.  You see me everyday at the shelter.  The one for the mentally challenged.  You pick up the pace when you pass me, afraid that I might try to speak to you, afraid of being made uncomfortable.  I hear what you say about me.  “Look at the freak!?  Or…What a retard!  And…He’s such an imbecile!”

I know why you say these things.  I understand.  You’re afraid.  You’re…

You may think you know who I am.

I’m the kid in your 3rd period class.  The one who sits in the back of the class.  You walk past me everyday.  I hear you snicker to your friends about me.  “Can you believe it?  I bet he got that shirt from the thrift store.”  “Look at those shoes.  They’re so ratty!  I bet he can’t afford to go out and get new ones.”  “Oh my god!  What is that smell?  I bet he…

One foot in the dark, one foot in the light.  Lord, keep me tightly moored to you so I don’t get lost in the night.

Drowning & desperate, grasping for hope.  Lord, you hold me and I’ll hold the rope.

Death comes for all, but beckons some.  Life is so hard & hope never comes.

Bound in sin and weakness, they never catch a break.  It’s scary just to try to think how much a body can take.

Trouble’s…

Mid-Life Crisis?

            “Is this a mid-life crisis?” She wondered to the blank wall behind the T.V. – the one that she left blank intentionally, not even a nail hole to hang a picture because even so much as a nail would be a commitment, a commitment to a life she was no longer certain she wanted.

Fifteen years with the same man.  Eating the same food.  Sleeping in the same bed.  Having the…

The Magical Age of 12

The magical age seems to be 12.

Girls teetering dangerously close to the edge, Others dangling from the precipice

Of puberty

Out bodies are already beginning to give a hint of things to come.

That’s when it all starts!  People begin to notice.  (Guys mostly).  We are beginning to flower, to blossom, to bloom.

A strangely wonderful and uncomfortable change comes over us.  We understand – somewhat…

Encouragement for a Dandelion

Photo by Markus Spiske temporausch.com on Pexels.com

Of all the flowers in the world God could’ve chosen me to be, He made me a dandelion.

Nobody looks twice at a dandelion when there is a garden full of beautiful flowers to stare at, smell, and appreciate.

Giving no more thought to me than to notice my inappropriateness of place.

I am not:  romantic as a rose; exotic as an orchid; delicate as an…