Seasons

Lori Emmons
01/23/04
Creative Writing
Combined “Ideas”

Familiar becomes unfamiliar in a garden of delights with exotic & strange words in my special place.

Seasons

It is always so clean and comfortable here. 
Her palace is ornately decorated, and impeccably clean and organized,
purely by her own hands and not of a butler or maid 
Her hands created many of the pieces of artwork that adorn this place called home. 
The landscape too, is exquisitely manicured;
many tall Magnolias cooled the family from the searing summer sun. 
The lawn is trimmed with tiny, delicate pink and white Baby’s Breath and lavender Primrose
among the prize-winning roses of multiple shades and aromas. 
Her children are playing joyfully in the cool shade beneath a trellis covered with Honeysuckle vines.
The aroma of the Filet Minon grilling slowly fills their nostrils creating a “rumbmly in their tumbly.” 
She is skilled at her art of homemaker and mother. 
Her Beloved arrives just as the finishing touches of dinner are nearing completion. 
Daddy and children retire to their evening rituals of horseplay and games before bedtime
while she attended to the kitchen clean up. 
This is the scene of everyday life at the Grande Palace. 
It is comfortable here.  T’was the summer of their lives.

The trees are turning a rainbow of colors now, the air crisp. 
The deliciously sweet aromas of the summer flowers have gone with their beauty. 
The smells of the summer grill turns into the distinct smell of homemade chicken noodle soup,
waiting to warm their very souls. 
Gardening is retired for another season. 
Fall and winter craft projects are created for enjoyment and purpose. 
They would serve to make the palace a most desirable gathering place for the coming holidays. 
There was so much to do. 
Decorations and handcrafted ornaments were personalized for each family member. 
Every friend, neighbor and co-worker
had grown accustomed to the exquisite and scrumptious tray of confections and cookies given them yearly. 
It is a welcoming place.

What is happening?  She feels her hands tremble and her legs quiver. 
The crackers at lunch not only crumble in her fingers, they shower her shocked children! 
Two crackercrumbs made it into her soup bowl. 
A boy and a girl drop their jaw! 
What is mom doing?  She is always cleaning not making messes. 
Has she gone mad?  Are we in trouble? 
Then suddenly mom’s hysterical laughter shatters the frozen air! 
The Grande Palace was never to be the same. 
The home became less and less clean,
the gardens less manicured. 
There were increasingly fewer craft projects and sweet trays of cookies. 
In their stead came a greater appreciation for the value of life. 
A decision and respect to avoid taking things for granted is made. 
The goodness of many in the human race,
and the ugliness of others stared this family down. 
Simple tasks became tedious and stressful. 
Friends and associates divided, many times even families. 
Hobbies adventures and careers redirected. 
An opportunity to re-do, re-think and re-structure. 
A degenerative disease has re-defined lives. 
It is very uncomfortable here but,
it’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do about it. 
Make it springtime…or it’s your fall.