Creative Challenge #49

Creative Challenge #49

Not mine, but the challenge words "rays of sunshine" brought this song to the forefront of my mind.

Lyrics

Ray Of Sunshine
Jason Mraz

well sometimes the sun shines on other people's houses and not mine
some days the clouds paint the sky all grey
it takes away my summertime

somehow the sun keeps shining upon you while i kindly stand by
if there's a light in everybody send out your ray of sunshine

i wanna walk the same roads as everybody else
through the trees and past the gates
i getting high on heavenly breezes
and make some new friends along the way

i won't ask much of nobody
i'm just here to sing along
and make my mistakes look gracious
and learn some lessons from my wrongs

but sometimes the sun shines on other people's houses and not mine
some days the clouds can paint the sky all grey
and take away my summertime

and somehow the sun keeps shining upon you while i struggle to get mine
a light never hurt nobody send out your ray of sunshine

oh if this little light of mine combined with yours today
how many watts could we luminate
how many villages could we save

well my umbrella's tired of the weather wearing me down
well look at me now

you sure look as good as your outlook
would you mind if i took some time
to soak up your light, your beautiful light
you got a paradise inside

i get hungry for love and thirsty for life
but much to full on the pain
when i look to the sky to help me
and it often looks like rain

well sometimes the sun shines on other people's houses and not mine
and some days the clouds paint the sky all grey
and take away my summer time

and somehow the sun keeps shining upon you while i struggle to get mine
if there's a light in everybody send out your ray of sunshine

you're undeniably warm, and cerulean
yea you're perfect in design
i hope you hang around

so the sun, it can shine on me
and the clouds can all roll away
and the sky can become our possibility
well there's a light in everybody, send out your ray of sunshine

 

Creative Challenge #47 - Whispurrs

The phrase or word this week:
whispers

Whispurrs

I crawled into bed utterly exhausted from my day. I was dressed in pink fuzz and huddled under an ancient ivory quilt, my head settled in my fluffed up pillow and I fiddled my shoulders around to find that perfect spot. After my body agreed that I had found it, I sighed a long breath of release. My mind has a way of going where it may at this time of the night, and it posed a question I uttered in a whisper. "If I wish hard enough will it make my dreams come true?" A mixture of bewilderment and excitement beamed from him, because we weren't taking our usual route to slumber. He heard my words, and eventually I heard his comforting voice answering my posed inquiry, I shouldn’t have been surprised that he answered me, but I was.

His voice was soft and silky conversing with me. "Dreams are tangible, while wishes need encouragement, but all in all they are one in the same." "How do you know this?" I looked into his eyes in a lazy, unfocused kind of way as I asked him. He is so wise, he raised one of his hirsute eyebrows and he winked a gold-green at me. I smiled as I nuzzled in close and asked him again. "Just how do you come to know this as fact?" He purred into my ear as I felt myself drifting off to walk amongst the clouds and catch jars of starlight before the dawn, "Take my word for it, I know these things." I snuggled in a little closer, rubbing his back, feeling the whiskers on his face tickle me and I sighed out, "When I was a little girl my father used to say, "If trouble ever troubles you, just dream your cares away."

Somewhere off in the distance beyond the moon’s glow I could hear Bette Midler singing. "A dream is a wish your heart makes when your fast asleep. In dreams you will lose your heartaches, whatever you wish for, you keep. Have faith in your dreams and someday, someday your rainbow will come smiling through. No matter how your heart is grieving, you keep on believing, the dream that you wish will come true."

He must have heard the music in the night air as well, for a bit of time passed before he spoke again. "Dreams and wishes," now he spoke very carefully, deliberately. He was oh so knowing, "Dreams are to be fulfilled. You have so much more traveling to do. On your journeys you will find many stops and turning points, just look out for the one sign saying ‘Dream Boulevard’. Take it, and then, give it your best shot."

"And wishes?," I whispered, with just a little too much hope in my voice.

"Now they are just a little bit different than dreams," He spoke to me in a hushed, husky, hypnotic matter. "Compared to wishes, dreams are substantial. The are a goal intended to be hit, and dreams stand a good chance of becoming the genuine real. True. Wishes are like so much fluff off a dandelion flower, one breath and it will scatter in the breeze. Now pay attention, my sweet girl, wishes were bestowed for a reason. It’s only a human’s nature to have an abundance of wishes. The secret is to pick out your most impassioned wish. Then you need to give courage to this wish, you may have to tweak it every now and again. Allow it time to grow and mature and eventually this wish will magically turn into a dream. A dream that has stemmed from a wish is a very powerful dream indeed, one that has every chance of fulfilling itself."

I unburdened my dreams and wishes on him, each one mumbled into the indistinct stretch of night. They came out garbled as sleepy-eyed slumber stole the words away, and placed them gently into the buckets of stardust the sandman held. Somewhere, sometime in the night, I looked down on hazy white fluff that twinkled from below. I felt safe enough to fall and land on it with an awareness of belief of wishes and dreams.  tj

Creative Challenge #45 - "Oh, how I miss it."

Have some creative fun. Using the phrase or word at the bottom as the theme (you don't have to use the exact words) post a poem, story or photo in your blog that has been created by you. 

Please leave your link here in the comment section so we can all enjoy your Creative Challenge and don't forget to leave your blog open to everyone so we can all view your creation(s).

The phrase or word this week:
"Oh, how I miss it."

I wrote this poem 10 years ago. I so much wanted to show my children the things I loved as I grew up taking this route to my grandmother's house. When I saw the challenge, this piece immediatly came to mind. I hope you enjoy it.

It Wasn’t Supposed To Be Like This

I wanted to take my children along the route to my grandma’s house.

Twisting and turning along Lake Huron.

I haven’t taken this trip in well over twenty years.

 

The store in Standish is gone, as if it was never there.

Where can we stop and buy pickled bologna, Colby cheese, and Ritz crackers?

Who sells grape Nehi or giant dill pickles out of wooden barrels to the tourists now?

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

 

The beautiful blue handrails that marched along Main Street in downtown Oscoda are gone.

Now it looks like every other small, downtown area, very plain, very generic.

How can my children daydream as we drive through, of ghost conversations held along the weather worn blue handrails.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

 

Paul Bunyan is fenced in and gated now.

A "For Sale by Owner" sign hangs on a rusty wire that blocks its entrance.

Who can market the memories made of children, scampering up, up, up, to the very top of Lookout Tower where you could see forever?

My children will never see forever across the back of Babe the Blue Ox.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

 

What was called Domkey Zoo is now called Dinosaur Gardens.

The paint that once adorned this mysterious adventure-land is peeling, mottled, sun-dried and unkempt.

The statue of Jesus holding the whole world in His hands has corroded, leaving a hideous sneer on His face.

How can I explain to my children how this statue once engulfed my spirit and allowed me to feel divine in its presence?

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

 

The ice cream store that only sold frozen custard with chunks of real frozen cream now sells regular Dairy Queen wares.

My children will never know the extraordinary experience of frozen custard melting on their tongues.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

 

The Wal-Mart and K-Mart, Wendy’s, Burger King, all the conveniences of life fill the land that we tromped over as youngsters.

We looked for the newest adventure to fill the day.

We found the newest treasure to fill our imaginations.

How much imagination will my children take home from McDonald’s?

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

 

The grinding stones are gone off the beach, and a grassy park replaces the mountain of discarded stones.

How can I show my children how to balance on a huge round whetstone, when the Grindstone Mountain cleared out long ago?

Now my children get to walk along the beach on a straight, smooth sidewalk.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

 

Grandma doesn’t live here any more.

Now she lives down the street, behind a set of wrought iron gates, a headstone marks her address.

The children never knew her.

Grandma passed on when last I made this trip.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

 

From the backseat, on our way home, I hear giggles and whispers from my children.

"Wasn’t the Bridge awesome?"

"Did you see the seagulls eating out of our hands?"

"I never saw such a beautiful sunset in all my life."

"Swimming in Lake Huron at mid-night, can you believe it!"

"I loved eating that pastie thing!"

"No, skipping stones in the moonlight was the best!"

"No way, going to that Mystery Spot was the best!"

On and on the conversation flew between them.

As we stopped at a brand new Arby’s restaurant to eat roast beef sandwiches for dinner, my children asked,

"Can we do this again next year, huh, can we?"

 

And I thought, "Yes, it was supposed to be just like this."

 

©tjs'99