Relationships

This month: Pet Poetry!

~ memeethemuse ~ Leave a comment

Pets! | Memee's Musings

Pets come in all shapes and sizes and personalities. Some of us have a favorite while others define their homes as a “zoo.”  All I know is that our pets make life so much richer.  I cannot imagine life without a pet by my side.  Families who don’t have pets are confusing to me.  I just don’t understand why people would want to deprive their children of the wonderful unconditional love and friendship that a pet can give, not to mention all we learn from them by bearing witness to their lives.

And so this month, in honor of my best friend, Forest, who has been sick this past week with his first episode of Canine Vestibular Disease, I am asking that you focus your poetry this month on your pets and that special relationship you share with them.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Submission deadline is Sunday, April 24th, 2016 at 23:55 PST.
Submit now!

Voting opens at 00:05 PST on Monday, April 25th and ends on Saturday, April 30th at 23:55 PST.*

MEMEE’S POETRY PARTY RULES OF CONDUCT:

1. No naughty thumbnail pictures. (This will disqualify you.)

2. Submit the URL address to your relevant original poem.

3. Please try to visit at least two party guests, leave them a nice compliment or begin a friendly discussion with them. It’s a party: Mingle, people, mingle!

4. This party’s unique hashtag is #pets, use it. Link back to me and, of course, if you tweet me, I’ll tweet you… tweet, tweet! (Even if you don’t have a twitter account please use the hashtag as a blog tag.)

5. Let your followers know that you’re partying at Memee’s Musings and they’re invited to drop in and join the party! Just give them this direct link: http://www.inlinkz.com/new/view.php?id=625302 or send them to the Current Party tab to read this post https://memeesmusings.com/category/current-party/.

Spreading the word about your linking up is also the perfect excuse to show off your participation badge!  Because I do not vote it is important that you participate in promoting the event. The more word of mouth the more activity and the greater the traffic impact on everyone’s website. Also, remember, once we start hitting 100 bloggers linking up then tangible, in-your-hand prizes will be awarded to the winners along with their trophy and bragging rights.  So challenge your fellow poets to party with us and solicit your followers to read all of the poems and vote their favorite (while the voting window is open).

Collect your participation badge and find more answers at: Memee’s Poetry Parties.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Here’s a Video.
Or if you prefer infographics, go to this post.

*(If you don’t know PST just Google “What time is it now in PST?” and calculate against your time zone)

Bottleneck (a short story)

~ memeethemuse ~ 21 Comments
Bottleneck | Memee's Musings
Photo: Shutterstock

The bottle was almost empty. Just another sip. He cleaned his mouth with his sleeve. The house was still dark. He was cold. She would be home soon. And then he would show her. He would teach her a lesson. Nobody was allowed to treat him like this. He would show her! How dare she leave him. For that guy! He took another sip. The bottle was empty. Maybe he would use the bottle. She had to suffer. He would take his time. Suddenly a car was pulling up. A smile on his face he pressed his body closer to the wall, hiding in the dark.

It was 2:45 in the morning and it was the same as it was every night since she had met Ralph three and-a-half years ago.  She would be out playing, partying with Ralph; having sex with Ralph while he sat at home miserable and lonely. She didn’t care about him, she had never really loved him.  That much was obvious!  If she had she wouldn’t abandon him night after night for a man who didn’t respect her enough to marry her. Continue reading →

This dog is not looking for a home… and you’ll be disappointed!

~ memeethemuse ~ 4 Comments

Patient PittieAnyone who knows anything about pits knows that they will do whatever it takes to be loved by their owner.  It’s part of the reason they get a bad rap… if humans only give attention to their pit when they are misbehaving, like a child that is neglected, it will perform the negative behavior because some attention is always better than no attention.  If the human owner treats the dog abusively, throwing things at him, hitting or kicking him, yelling at him, like a child imitating a violent father, he will learn to be aggressive. And then you have those evil, evil humans who fight them.

Pit Bulls are one of the most patient and loving dogs you can get.  And of course, like any mixed breed “mutt” he’ll have less medical problems then a purebred.

Educate yourself before calling fowl on a pit bull!

I hope you enjoy the photos of this wonderfully patient pittie as much as our family did. I don’t know who took them, when or where they were originally uploaded. I saw it on Pinterest, and their link led back to Morably.com however, the photo is marked evilmilk.com. Visit at your own risk, I’ve not done so.

(Please educate yourself about the discrimination and negative propaganda campaign being promulgated against these wonderful dogs before you simply walk past them. I highly recommend the documentary Beyond the Myth which you can stream on Netflix, purchase or rent on Amazon or even Youtube for $1.99.)

In Loving Memory of my Daddy

~ memeethemuse ~ 4 Comments
Photo Credit: patrick_bird via Compfight cc
Photo Credit: patrick_bird via Compfight cc

Today is Father’s Day. Not just any Father’s Day but the first of many Father’s Day’s without my beloved daddy. He passed away unexpectedly. He was happy, he was in love, he was spry and he did everything a person is supposed to do to live a long life, but he died anyway. He was 70 in years, but in mind, body and soul, he was closer to my age… 45.

Anyway, I am not going to spend the day writing about him. I am going to spend the day, instead, remembering him and thinking of him, and missing him while I live my life, outside in the warm sun. Today is not a day for staying inside and staring at a computer. I had an incredible daddy and I loved him deeply. I began this blog as part of my healing process, and so, I am making this Sunday post in honor of my daddy.

I have found another incredible daddy who I want to share with each and every one of you: daughters, mothers, fathers, sons… this is what it is to be a man, a father, this is how love looks.  And rather than posting it here I am going to send you directly to the author of this incredible letter written by Dr. Kelly Flanagan to his young daughter who cannot possibly understand at this time what the letter means or how incredibly lucky she has to have such a man for a father.

Please breathe it in completely, use it as a reference of understanding, of role modeling of teaching your daughters how to be women and your sons to be men, use it yourself to be a better father to your daughters and your sons.

A Daddy’s Letter to His Little Girl (About Her Future Husband)

You Just Had a Baby

~ memeethemuse ~ Leave a comment

via Where My Heart Resides
Author:  Ashlee Gadd

To: myself, and anyone else who needs to read this.

Ashlee & Her Inspiration

You just had a baby.

I know your jeans don’t fit. It sucks. I know you tried on seventeen pairs at Nordstrom Rack last week and almost cried in the dressing room. I know you went to Gap after that and tried on fourteen other pairs and almost cried in that dressing room. I know the only thing you bought that day was a pair of sweatpants and a loose white t-shirt. It’s okay.

You just had a baby.

I know your to-do list is never finished. I know you’re worried about things like savings accounts and college funds and life insurance and making a will. You don’t need to do any of those things today. You’ll do them soon enough.

You just had a baby.

I know you’re trying to balance your dream job (which pays nothing, yet), and your regular job (which pays a little), and trying to figure out how to pay for daycare and how to find a daycare and how to not feel guilty about using a daycare. I know more than anything right now, you want help with your super active toddler who needs to run, run, run while you need to sit, sit, sit and breastfeed, again. It’s okay.

You just had a baby.

I know you’re trying to figure out how to cook meals that are not scrambled eggs and how to stop running out of milk at the end of the week and how to get your toddler to poop in the potty. I know you secretly just want 100 hours of babysitting so you can make a baby book and create a meal plan and go to Costco and organize your closet and shave your legs and write overdue thank you cards and clean off your desktop and cut your fingernails and vacuum every room and maybe, just maybe, watch a movie? With popcorn? And milk duds? It’s okay to wish for those things.

You just had a baby.

I know everyone is starting Whole30 and making 25 resolutions and setting goals and choosing One Word for the year. I know you’re eating peanut butter cups in the bathroom and making resolutions you don’t even think you’ll keep and trying to think of One Word that isn’t SURVIVE but it’s the One Word you keep coming back to because damn, this two-kid thing is hard.

I know you’re exhausted. And frustrated. And overwhelmed. And sleep deprived. And thankful. And grateful. And happy. And tired.

You just had a baby.

I know everything feels undone. I know being a grown-up sucks. I know your house is a mess. I know you have writer’s block. I know you feel behind. I know you wish you were superwoman. I know. I know.

But.

You just had a baby.

So, let’s stop pretending like that didn’t just happen.
And let’s give you some grace and permission.

You don’t have to answer every e-mail, every text, or every invitation that comes your way. You don’t have to keep your house clean or make fancy dinners this week or plan your family vacation for the year. You don’t have to take your toddler to the dentist or figure out how to save for college right now.

Let it be.

Eat a bagel. Heck, eat two bagels. Let your baby nap on your chest. Pretend to be a dinosaur with your toddler. Go to Target by yourself and look at all the things. Watch Parenthood and cry a little. Go to brunch with your friends. Rest.

You’re fine.

And when you go to bed tonight thinking of the 63 items left on your to-do list, feeling unaccomplished and disappointed in yourself, I want you to repeat after me.

I. Just. Had. A. Baby.

A baby!

Relax. You’re doing great.

Love,
Me.

☀ ☀ ☀ ☀ ☀

If you just had a baby, please visit Ashlee’s blog and let her know that this blog post helped you make it through your day! And, blessings, congratulations and happiness to you and that sweet bumpkin of yours! — Memee

Tweet: #Blogger Ashlee Gadd lovingly supports new mom's in today's calling card.

Perfect Day

~ memeethemuse ~ 1 Comment

perfect dayToday is the perfect day
The sweet scent in the air
The warm breeze kissing my skin
Fine ripples casting playful shadows on the pool floor
All the right songs, all the right feelings
The caressing touches of your hand against my cheek
Your fingers running through my hair
The smile that spreads across your lips
And the dimples that deepen when I say your name
All of my senses are alert, alive
Your embrace, your kiss
Your voice, your eyes
Today is the perfect day

Following People, Things and Life

~ memeethemuse ~ 12 Comments
Image provided by www.sodahead.com
Image provided by http://www.sodahead.com

Follow the Leader, what a simple game that taught us some basic life tenents but was so fun you were not even aware you were learning the rules of being human. The fun came because you didn’t know what to expect and although you were imitating another, you remained an equal, not a subordinate to the leader. Following was fun, it taught inclusiveness, equality, adaptation and always provided laughter and excitement. And then you got a little older and personalities begun to diverge into different directions and inevitably someone in your group of peers would become the bossy one, the leader of the group. And Follow the Leader was no longer a game but something you did. Most days it would be a subconscious choice but on other days your “friend,” let’s call him Simon for simplicity sake, would tell you what to do. And you would find yourself not only playing at the game Simon Says but living it. Continue reading →