Succinctly Yours Week 176: Toe Story 10…or The Moral of the Story is Don’t Be a Piggy

Thank you to Grandma’s Goulash for hosting Succinctly Yours! The idea of this meme is to use the picture to polish a story into 140 words or 140 characters or fewer. The bonus word this week was “fable.”

Remember the old fable about the family of toes that went for a walk on the beach? The one with the ring learned she had to watch her step and toe the line with the rest. 135

The children’s fable has been updated to appeal to a culture of narcissism. They go on vacation and not to market, no one stays home, and the last piggy cries, “me me me.” 139

I know, I know—I confused a fable with a nursery rhyme. But I also hear tell they ate sushi and organic quinoa instead of roast beef, and things got a little out of h…foot. Have a great week!

If all God’s children had all the material advantages that the rich could afford, the world would not be a fit place to live in. ~Alexander Lowen, M.D., Narcissism: Denial of the True Self

Succinctly Yours Week 159: A Picture is Worth...140 Words

Thank you to Grandma’s Goulash for hosting Succinctly Yours! The idea of this meme is to use the picture to tell a story in 140 words or 140 characters. The bonus word was “yearn.” I cheated and changed the bonus word's tense. I have two this week, at 118 and 96 characters.

Ever the narcissist, Joey liked to point out his picture for tourists. He yearned for them to say his good looks knew no bounds. 

Ever the ham, Joanne liked to pose next to her picture for tourists. She yearned to have that audience in her pocket. 

He had an opinion of himself, I think, that was too high for his own good.  Or maybe it was the reverse.  Maybe it was a low opinion that he kept trying to erase.  ~Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried

Trying Toads

I’ve been trying to challenge myself more, writing wise, and it just so happens that  Imaginary Garden with Real Toads provided some pretty compelling inspiration in the artwork of Kathryn Dyche Dechairo.

For L

Broken heart, broken vase

Broken vow, ripped lace

Broken promise, broken face

Mending done, shield in place.

  

It doesn’t matter what they are unhappy about, you will get the blame. If they treat their children badly and cause their children to become angry, you will be blamed. If they loose their job, have car trouble or just can’t seem to catch a break, you will be blamed. You may go months at a time without seeing them or talking to them, but you can bet that if something goes wrong, you will be blamed. ~Cathy Meyer, About Toxic Ex Spouses

And She Loved to the Very Bottom of her Heart

Though he hid it well, my husband was a very jealous man.

And here I was, unable to quit thinking about my first love, a childhood romance. But I had put away childish things for a more practical life, and I was happy.

Except I wasn’t.

So I met my love when my husband wasn’t home—briefly at first, and then more and more until I felt as if we could never truly be apart again. I looked forward to our trysts with an unparalleled giddiness and left feeling flushed and spent and whole.

“You're back,” an old college friend remarked over the phone. Had I been gone? “Yes, for a long time,” she said.

And then, after a phone call, I made the announcement. “I am guest columnist at a newspaper.” I still remember the way his face went red, then white with anger.

I never looked back.

Happy Valentine’s Day to all who love words as I do.

It’s Valentine’s Day. It’s not the day you run away from love. It’s the day you chase it down. ~Cameron in “Modern Family”