A Mixed Bag, That’s What I am

Daily writing prompt

How would you describe yourself to someone?

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Just a few minutes ago, someone described me as someone ‘who walks the talk.’ I appreciate that. I try.

But I know that where I walk the talk is always well-lit and low risk. Still, I do walk the talk. I show up. I volunteer. I deliver lawn signs. I write post cards. I speak up, something that, oddly, has become easier with age. Like what is somebody going to do to me if I offend them. Fire me?

I don’t talk much about being a parent or grandparent, mostly because the former pretty much wore me out, but I’m gearing up to do better on the grandparent front. To be more of a presence, a lap, a maker of scrambled eggs, a little bit of a refuge. Like my grandmother was for me. She of the no questions asked, peel potatoes to start dinner, and put clean sheets on the bed. I endeavor to cut away all the crap, all the instructional, judgmental crap, the improvement strategies, enrichment efforts, all that, anything that rings of making a child into a project. Not doing any of that. Still, I am a stickler for please and thank you. Oh, and for using one’s fork. And not drinking endless juice or chasing the dog, those kinds of things. Law and order things.

So, I have a lot of bubbles and sidewalk chalk. Also, a kiddie pool that came in a small circle in a bag but then exploded and I cannot figure how to recreate its origins. This has happened before with tents and whatnot. It’s such a selling point to have something curled up in a little bag you could carry on a plane. No one is there for the aftermath when there is epic wrestling and frustration. I shoved the whole mess in the downstairs closet next to our winter hats and umbrellas.

Physically, my description depends on the day and the light. I am quite significantly old. Sometimes this is astonishing, like when I walk into a lake in my bathing suit and see the ruffles in my legs. When I get into the lake, though, when I am floating, say, and kicking ever so slowly, my legs look like they did when I was nineteen. That is the magic of water.

This isn’t much of a description, but it is who I am at the moment. I am a mixed bag – which could be taken in a lot of different ways.