The Substitute People

Today I wrote a poem on a leaf. It was for my creative writing class. I must admit that when our professor says, "We're going to do an activity," it's never dull, always fascinating, and I feel like I grow as a writer.

Here's my epistolary leaf poem to my great-grandmother:

Dear You, 

I miss your water bed. The one we used to count the pieces of candy I'd collected from the parade. I miss your swing that faced the sun in the evening. I miss the smell of your house. I miss the Norman Rockwell calendar you kept in your kitchen. I miss Thanksgiving when everyone would come and no one could move around the place. I miss your love for Elvis, your family, and dirty jokes I didn't quite understand yet. I miss you calling me by my first and middle names and your fridge with all those magnets with the googly eyes. I cried the day you died and when I saw you one last time you made me realize that love exists in all of us even though you're gone. I miss your house that they tore down to make way for a parking lot. You always said you'd die before they put you in a nursing home. Touche, grandma. I never thought I'd cry like I did that day. The sun shone and my shoes sunk into the cemetery grass. I couldn't imagine ever getting over it. I'm older now. It's been almost seven years and one day I will have a house like yours. Filled with too many people and love.

Lauren Jean

And in other news, I went for another walk with my dog today but this time I took pictures! 

That last one is definitely my favorite. Sometimes it's hard to fathom that any of this is real. Do you all ever have those thoughts? Like, am I real? I'll hold my hands out in front of me and turn them from side to side just to determine that I am alive. And I realize that I had no control over being put here on this Earth. I am a ball of clay, shaped partially by God's hand, and the rest is up to me. Beauty is just, at times, overwhelming. 

On my walk today, there were smells of hot dogs and hamburgers, water and fertilizer. It's summer's last-ditch effort to hold it's ground.

 Julie and I awaiting the rest of the gang to arrive at my belated birthday gathering! We're forming the number "21" with our fingers. Clever? Insane? 

 Julie and (the other) Lauren

Bradley!

And to catch up on other recent events...

 Julie and I at the movie theatre, awaiting Easy A to start, last Friday.

"My creation, is it real?!" (Weird Science-Oingo Boingo) Why do everyone's eyes glaze over when I enthusiastically show them that I spent my Friday night decorating a gourd with the face of a jack-o-lantern? 

So, for tonight, I have plans to devour a chicken pot pie, curse my unwanted exodus from Facebook (I haven't been able to log on for like, a week), finish French homework, watch Boy Meets World and Glee!

And one more for the road... in the "what love should be" series...

I want Drew Baylor saying, "You shouldn't be the substitute for anybody," and then kissing me.

"Maybe so..."