November 19, 2014 by kimicalreaction - 4 Comments

A Prelude to Thanksgiving

Today was the day my co-worker, C and I have been waiting for all year.

We received the invitation last Friday and we’ve been planning and strategizing ever since, determined to make this one the best ever.

Today was our company’s annual Thanksgiving Luncheon.

Each year, on the Wednesday the week before Thanksgiving, they throw out an enormous spread for all 500 employees. Turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes and sweet potato casserole, a selection of salads, bread and rolls. A huge dessert display with pies, cakes and cookies, coffee, tea and all kinds of beverages.

::sigh::

Of course, it’s all you can eat and Thanksgiving food (turkey, dressing and gravy) is my absolute favorite food of all, so I can put away my share.

It’s kinda shameful, but C and I train for this, eating small meals for several days in advance. We even forgo breakfast in anticipation.

And each year, we try a little of everything and each year we end up stuffed to the gills, waddling back to the office and laying our heads on the desk feeling like beached whales.

I’m full, but grateful.

Not only am I happy for such a lovely meal, but I’m happy to have a job (many don’t) and mostly, I’m happy to have such a great team to work with. C is awesome and makes my job bearable. My boss is not only fair, but funny and cool and he always has my back. The other managers in my department are supportive and help me do my job. That’s important.

It’s also important to be grateful, and I am. So an early Thanksgiving, in many ways.

November 18, 2014 by kimicalreaction - 0 comments

Lost in Translation

When I was in 9th grade, I loved nothing more than to write stories. My best friend Laura and I amused ourselves during class by making up tall tales; each of us scribbling a few sentences (or adding an illustration) and passing to the other to continue.

Daily, we composed vast oeuvres in our spiral notebooks.

From these charettes sprang notable tomes, such as the “Further Adventures of Little White Duck,” and the never-to-be-forgotten “Continuing Saga of Corky’s Junebug.” (This was an actual bug, by the way, and not a euphemism.)

Our anecdotes took on an international twist when we acquired a new friend, Ursula*, who transferred to our school mid-term from Frankfurt. She was delighted to teach us her language, and we enthusiastically began to compose our yarns in our fledgling German (along with a little help from a German-American dictionary.) We were perhaps a little more exuberant than structurally correct, but our Duck (die kleine weiße Ente) and Junebug (der Käfer von Corky) novellas flourished in their new language.

Until one fateful day in Biology class.

I should preface this by telling you that we didn’t care much for Biology. It was smelly and difficult and rumors of impending frog dissection were being spread by malicious upperclassmen.

The teacher, Mr. Green,* was terse and unsmiling. Completely unable to make a connection with him or the subject, I poured myself into expanding my body of work.

Laura’s and my latest essay, Das Hässliche Kleine Mann (the Ugly Little Man) based on our somewhat subjective evaluation of Mr. Green,* was promising to be a masterpiece.

At some point, caught up in the story, I forgot to check before I passed, and openly handed my notebook across the aisle to Laura’s desk for her to add the next lines.

A shadow fell over us.

The notebook was snatched from my hand.

“Miss Ferguson. Miss Roberts*.”

Caught.

“Ah, an essay in German!” Mr. Green* sounded almost jubilant. “How wonderful! Did you know I minored in German in college?”

Scheiße.

We were dead.

Mr. Green* continued that he’d be quite happy to grade our little essay for grammar and vocabulary, right then and there, in lieu of a Biology quiz.

By paying attention in class and actually doing the assignments, I eventually recovered from the debilitating grade.

It put quite a damper, however, on my burgeoning career as a novelist.

(*All names have been changed to protect me from retaliation.)

November 17, 2014 by kimicalreaction - 8 Comments

Change in the Weather

I work on the top floors of a highrise in downtown Atlanta. From my bird’s eye view, I see the most amazing weather unfolding around me.

From blue skies…

to blanketing fog…

a storm rolling in…

and lightning’s strike…

a rare Atlanta snow storm…

to the dazzling Fall nights and bright city lights…

and brilliant sunsets drenching the sky in color.

It’s been such an incredible opportunity to see light and wind and water change the world around me.

November 16, 2014 by kimicalreaction - 0 comments

Caught in a Nap

I noticed yesterday that my cats were sleeping on the sofa. No giant surprise about the sleep. They went pro several years ago.

The notable part is that they were sleeping next to each other.

As a rule, they don’t get a long so well. They tolerate each other but there’s no love lost and a paw smack here and there tends to escalate into a rolling cat fight around 3 a.m. They are incredibly jealous and take it personally if I pet or play with the other.

Once I ceased reeling from the unexpected détente, it occurred to me how lovely they looked, striped in shadow from afternoon sun streaming through the blinds.

I recalled the assignment from Photography 101 involved “Playing with Light.” I like to think the defined darkness amid the brilliant sunlight illuminates their characters; juxtaposed sweetness and affection against the shadow of a sometimes fierce and feral nature.

The moment, as most beauty, was fleeting. Waking at the sound of my camera, Brodie posed briefly for the second shot, then reached out, popped Keegan on the nose and took off running – the fragile peace destroyed.

I should have known to let sleeping cats lie.

November 14, 2014 by kimicalreaction - 3 Comments

A complete mystery

When I was a little kid, I was captivated by children’s mystery/adventure books. I inhaled every single Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, Tom Swift and Hardy Boys book in existence. I flew through the slightly more obscure Trixie Beldon series and even dabbled with the Happy Hollisters. Oh, the capers I captured and the crimes I circumvented – if only vicariously in my wee girl brain. If you were an preteen detective (or family of detectives, or just got into mischief a lot) and could find it, fix it, uncover it or discover it, I was your avaricious and devoted fan.

(And can I begin to tell you how much I was in love with Jonny Quest?!)

Therefore I draw upon my vast and intensive training as an adolescent gumshoe to completely justify my obsession with Googleing the answer to every single question that crosses my mind.

I am simply sleuthing. ~~Old~~ New school.

November 12, 2014 by kimicalreaction - 9 Comments

An Early Frost

Way back in 4th grade, we were asked to memorize a poem from our English book and recite it in front of the class. Being nine-years old and horse-mad, I chose Robert Frost’s “Stopping through the Woods on a Snowy Evening,” chiefly because he acknowledged his “little horse” and its thoughts about the change in journey.

Yeah, I know. Prepubescent girl-child logic.

The picture in my English book next to the poem looked a lot like this, which I thought was really cool and eerie and bewitching and added to my fascination.

In high school, a slightly older and wiser me stumbled upon Robert Frost’s poetry again and once more fell in love; this time not for visuals of patient ponies but for the lean and lovely lyricism of his words.

During one of those long, wonderfully ramble-y conversations I had with my husband when we first met, we talked about poetry and I remember rather shyly quoting my favorite of all Frost’s poems, “Fire and Ice.”

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

A few months later, on my birthday, he surprised me with an original copy of the 1920 Christmas Edition Harper’s Magazine in which “Fire and Ice” was first published, in a shadow box frame he made himself.

I remember being so blown away by the sweetness and thoughtfulness of the gesture. It brought to my mind the last lines of another of my favorite poems by Frost, “The Rose Family.”

The dear only knows
what will next prove a rose.
You, of course, are a rose –
But were always a rose.

November 11, 2014 by kimicalreaction - 2 Comments

Connection

One of this week’s photo challenges is to show a photo that represents what “connection” means to you.

We took this in Rosemary beach last May, on one of our nightly sunset walks. To me, it shows the connection between sky, land and water, the connection between light and dark and of course, the connection between me and my husband.

November 10, 2014 by kimicalreaction - 3 Comments

Interesting things I’ve recently heard.

We visited my parents this weekend, and I was fortunate to get a chance to see my sister and her daughter as well.

I was showing my little niece Olivia some pictures from my phone: a hodgepodge of work events, odd things that catch my eye and of course, random sunset shots whenever I can get them. She pointed to a photo taken from the place I work, which is a 3-story glass-walled dining complex on the 71st floor of an Atlanta highrise.

“That’s the Jedi Academy.” she proudly announced.

I choked up, suddenly so stricken with sadness that my place of employment wasn’t in fact, the Jedi Academy.

“No, honey. It’s not the academy, it’s just a restaurant.” I told her, but I’m not sure that she believed me.

Later, I shared this with my Dad, who said to me, “The only answer when someone asks if you work at the Jedi Academy, is ‘Yes, you are correct. And may the force be with you.'”

Back home in Atlanta that night, we walked over to the neighborhood Sunday Food Truck party, held in the large park several streets over from our house. We brought a bottle of wine and a blanket with us and enjoyed some very delicious pizza from Dominic’s on the nearby lawn.

Other neighbors settled nearby with their chairs and blankets and wafts of their conversation drifted our way.

“Bacon is definitely the gateway meat.” one fellow loudly announced.

I didn’t hear the rest, but I didn’t need to. That statement truly shines, as is, free of any context.

What have you heard amusing lately?

November 9, 2014 by kimicalreaction - 6 Comments

Crickets.

We are visiting my parents this weekend in Chelsea, Alabama and I ended up going to the store with my husband and my dad to pick up some stuff my mom needed. My father, who is left-handed, noticed that the guy in front of him at the register was writing out a check with his left hand (you never see checks at a grocery store anymore in Atlanta.)

My dad addressed the guy jovially: “So, us left-handers will take over the world someday, won’t we!?!”

The guy smiled and said, “You know, I think you’re right. It’s kinda funny you mention, but I actually work at a very small company, and all ten of us employees are left-handed.”

I said, “Ohmigod, that’s kinda sinister.

Have you ever had a joke or story fall completely flat?

November 7, 2014 by kimicalreaction - 6 Comments

A thank you note to the lady in the gas station bathroom

Dear lady in the plaid shirt in the truck stop bathroom in Eufala, Alabama;

Thank you for reaching over to my sink from your side of the counter and turning on my faucet for me.

I realize my somewhat frenzied hand waving in front of the taps may have led you to assume I was having a breakdown or perhaps trying to land an imaginary plane.

You had no way of knowing that I work in a place where everything in the bathrooms is automated and in order to get soap/water/paper towels you have to make a gesture within the motion-sensor range of the dispenser.

I’m sure I would have eventually figured it out, but you were there and took direct action. Bless your kind and helpful heart.

I’m sure we have given each other a good story.