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Start your writing with: "Her hand touched the small box in her pocket and she smiled."

Her hand touched the small box in her pocket and she smiled. Her heart beating wildly, the excitement she felt threatening to overwhelm her. She had only walked the two blocks to her apartment building but it felt as if she had run a marathon. She stumbled as she mistook the distance of the first step, her foot slid off as she began her accent; reaching out she grabbed the railing to keep from falling.

A single word was making her rethink where her life was taking her. Nothing would be the same now that it had been spoken. Touching the box again she whispered that word softly; yes.

Her smile widened, the wish she’d made on her eighth birthday was coming true. She was going to be a mother.

Vacation

Vacations can take you anywhere you want to go; from a period of time at home alone to the middle of a crowd somewhere far away. You may choose to climb Mt. Everest or dive off the Great Barrier Reef. How do you choose to spend the time allowed you each year by your employer? What goes into your decision on what to do and where to go?

I always choose to go home for my vacation to spend my time with family and friends. I don’t have to pay for a room and have multiple places to choose from. The food is always great and I don’t have to cook unless I wish to. I will take my hosts to a fine restaurant to thank them for their hospitality; or to a local place for takeout and enjoy the tastes of ‘home’. I could make the trip every couple of years or so; why do I choose to do it every year?

Visiting family and friends is not the only reason I feel the call of home. When I moved here I left my loved ones who had gone on before; I return to ‘visit’ them and place flowers upon their graves. It is the pull, to make sure their final resting place is not forgotten, that has me driving over four hundred miles one way every year.

Researching my genealogy and learning where I come from is vital on knowing where I am headed. Knowing my ancestors were ‘good people’ means a lot. It helps me know that my descendants have the ability to stand tall and move forward into their lives with this history behind them.

As long as this ‘pull’ remains strong I will make the journey once a year. Other vacation days will probably be spent at home, resting quietly. Who knows one day I might just fool myself and take a trip to the mountains or the ocean. The road ahead is open and holds so many possibilities.

Have a great vacation and remember me as you travel.

Life's Journey

The road has come to an end yet I have not finished my journey. I have come to a conflicting decision in my life; do I stop and wait for someone to show me the way or continue to travel on making my own road?

I know the way is not paved and there will be stumbling blocks. I have been at this point before, when I left adolescence to travel the road of parenthood. The unknown had been frightening but I made it. The journey was full of all the emotions one will ever experience in a lifetime yet I feel there is more.

I stop, taking a short rest before moving on into the unknown. I know that stopping for longer is not the answer for me. There is so much I have not seen, so much I have not done. My life’s journey is not over just because I have finished one race, met one goal. Now is the time to set new goals and head forward; being aware of the road blocks but not letting them stop me.