Welcome to Honor Your Truth...The "Is It True"?" Series
Episode Fifty
Better Get Your Ducks in a Row
There was a continual flurry of activity at the old house on Orchard Road. We grew up there and growing up was chaos, anarchy....mass pandemonium. With so many kids and neighbors and friends running amuck, someone was always coming or going, or both. The walls of the downstairs bathroom shook like an earthquake every time someone opened or closed the front door because it was right around the corner. When slamming was involved, the little shelf with the little stuff on it that mom saved, would fall down. This, while rather startling, was a welcomed warning.......keeping one ever alert to the possibility of someone busting in on you. It was random. It was rapid, siblings and strangers alike. I locked the door even though we were never supposed to lock doors.
In the event of a fire, it was entirely too possible for one of us to panic and wind up trapped inside. Better safe than sorry was one of the more popular family mottos. Paralyzed by fear and the almost certain flames on the other side, the room would inevitably fill up with smoke and we would suffocate. It seemed we had an unusually long list of fire prevention rules not common to other households I frequented. Maybe there was a spontaneous combustion episode or some other kind of wild fire trauma in our family history, but more than likely it was just another one of those dramatic scare tactics aimed at keeping an otherwise unruly brood in line. I knew I could probably slither like a snake along the floor, slinking my way to safety, but Id rather not. Also, one should always know where all the doors are and if you happen to be in a hotel, count the doors from the exit to your room before you go to bed. There are so many things to remember I am sure to forget one. I can only hope its not the one I need in an emergency.
One day in particular, I clearly remember standing in that little bathroom with the little shelf that used to fall down. It was more of a fancy bathroom intended for guests only until the one upstairs totally burst at the seams. The wall paper was a deep red velvet with a scrolling pattern on top of a shiny foil. The plush red scroll was a cross between foo-foo fur and felt. It swirled in a maze you could get lost in.a labyrinth with no way in, and no way out. Once you started tracing the pattern with your finger, it was an endless loopedy loop. There was a particular spot in the paper that looked like the crown of a queen, and another that looked like the slipper of an elf if you really looked hard. I was staring at the slipper and I thought, As soon as I can wear nylons and make-up, like everyone else, my "real life" is gonna start. It wasnt too long before then that I had gotten my first pair of jeans and I knew things were gonna move fast now.
But years later, here I am, still apparently waiting for my real life to startand its about time it did already. I dont know what I was waiting for .to be old enough, to be good enough, to have things in order, to lose the weight, to meet my soul mate, to organize my desk, to have my house cleaned and the laundry done, to cross a T, to dot an I, to make a list, to have enough money, to be sure, to be stable, to be not afraid, for someone to tell me what to do, for someone to tell me its ok, for the right time, for the right placefor a guarantee. There are no guarantees except for this one..this is my life and its the real one. There is no perfect time or way to do a thingexcept not to do it. I can perfectly not do something or I can do it. This is my "real" life and so I live it. I Honor My Truth!
Debra Hadraba
Honor Your Truth
Inspiration+Action
Series
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Thats alot of ducks.
tombrady87 11 months ago
Beautiful Woman...
metalpyros 2 years ago