Click on Photos to Enlarge.
The Lens Artists Challenge prompt for this week is “Dreamy” (The illustrations are from my book Sunup Sundown Song.)
One given when I come to the states is a trip to Walmart to stock up on items I either can’t get in Mexico or that are cheaper here. Yesterday, Marti and I were supposed to go out to dinner but when she arrived to pick me up, she asked if I’d mind if we went to Walmart instead.
There was a family–mom and dad with two little boys and a baby girl in front of me in line at checkout. They had two cart absolutely full of groceries plus school supplies for the boys as school starts next week. The baby was in a carrier right in front of me and we started flirting. She held her hand out to me and I shook it. She had a darling big plush toy and I was saying how cute it was. She just kept “talking” to me.. no words, just gobbledygook, and smiling and holding her hands out to me and we kept holding hands and flirting with each other.
I told her I liked her toy and asked to hold it. I hugged it (it was sooo soft and cuddly) then gave it right back. The mom said they were from the Philippines and came because her husband’s mom arranged it. I asked where they worked, etc. She was a nurse in Veteran’s hospital. Then the mom took the plush animal and put it on the display beside the cash register, saying she just gave it to the baby to keep her busy while they were shopping but they weren’t going to buy it, it was too expensive. When the mom wasn’t looking, one of the little boys took it off the display and gave it back to his little sister. So sweet. He said to me, ‘She wants it.”
Long story short, I bought the toy and gave it to her. We’d traded names earlier and before they left, the mom told me they were going to name it Judy! Such a fun time. The mom and dad both gave me hugs before they left.
For Cellpic Sunday
Click on photos to enlarge.
Forgottenman just asked me to add this photo, which he says is his favorite. This is my mom holding me up in my stroller. I love it, too, so I will comply with his wishes.
For My Vivid Blog prompt: Baby
Click on photos to enlarge and read captions.
(If you’re not exhausted after wading through these, you can find a bunch more photos from last year’s event HERE.)
Last Small Gift
for Zackie, 1982-1984
He always noticed high things––
airplanes, kites.
His long fingers
pointed to small things,
moving things, things that needed to be eaten,
people who should leave the room.
He gave second chances.
Even after I bit his finger
along with the cookie he offered as a token of friendship,
and even after the stout and lengthy
cry of outrage in his mother’s arms,
in two or more additional meetings,
he was willing to start over again,
this time from the middle,
at becoming friends.
He never held out his arms to me.
He never cried when I left the room.
Yet he shared with me,
along with a glimpse of a heart that could still break,
all of the pleasures first experienced
which I had once felt,
and some long glances where neither looked away.
Usually, I felt that in between his own needs
he knew everything there was to know about me,
this wise baby,
so that when he rejected me,
I knew it was for good reason.
And when he accepted me,
I felt I’d gained character.
Maybe I found it irresistible
that I had to earn his allegiance,
so that I felt flattered by it—
like the first girl chosen from the bench at a dance.
This baby
that I never knew well enough.
This baby who never noticed the toys I brought him.
This baby who reigned
from the corner of my sofa
under his pointed birthday hat,
never learned to say my name.
But he held something old for me in his eyes.
Promises, perhaps,
that some of the mysteries are left in a life
where most of the presents have been opened,
revealing objects less precious
than the surprises they came wrapped up in.
New fathers often balk at tampering
with their newborn’s inaugural Pampering.
But though he’d rather be out boozing,
He’d better learn, ‘cuz Mommy’s snoozing.
The prompt today was pamper.
Life and Death at the Beach
With babies, every day is an education. This little story was acted out when we went to Tenacatita beach for the day. Down the beach, a tragedy was being enacted as a group worked to resuscitate a drowned man. Seconds after I viewed this touching scene as two mothers deal with the interaction between their babies, we realized what was happening in the background and we went down to see if we could be of aid. The oxygen I’d gone back to the house to get at the last minute before we left for the beach was of no aid to them, however, as though they worked diligently on the man and got his heart beating again, they never were able to get him to breathe on his own. One tragedy, one story of new life. This cycle is never more obvious than on the beach, but never before so graphically as depicted on this day. To see the happier story, you must click on the first photo. All photos will enlarge and be presented as a slideshow, complete with words.
The prompt word today was baby.
(Click on first photo to enlarge all.)
https://ceenphotography.com/2017/01/10/cees-fun-foto-challenge-old-and-new/
jdbphoto
Baby’s First Soda Pop
When finally a kid is poppable,
once the bottle is untoppable,
the overflow may be unstoppable.
It’s fortunate the floor is moppable!
(The WordPress prompt to day was “Unstoppable.”
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 