Day Three: “What Writing” Challenge

I began this challenge last week when Pat Pattison’s book in the mail. I was introduced by KJ Aartila, a writer on Vocal Media, to this challenge. Her inspiration is Pat Pattison’s book “SONG-WRITING WITHOUT BOUNDARIES”.

The picture above has the umbrella, the feathers and some hair. It has very little to do with my story though. And as directed, I am not writing much about sight, sound, taste, touch, smell and body motion just yet!

This is day three prompts:

Timed for 5 minutes: Umbrella.

It was raining and I couldn’t find my umbrella. Where could that darn thing be? If I can’t find it soon, I am just going to have to go out without it!

Oh, darn it, I remember! I left it in the car last week as it was raining when I left, and I didn’t need it when I got home. I had already put it in the back with the groceries when I got back to the car from the store.

If I put the coverup that I have on that will do. The rain poncho, and wear that to the car, and then if I need an umbrella, I will use that when I get to the mall. I am meeting a friend and do need to get going.

When did we get together last? Was it back in 2020? Maybe even longer ago than that. It should be fun catching up. I remember her at Sunday meetings when she would cry every week about how she quit smoking.

She had a hard time to quit smoking. I thought she would restart every week. She never did! I was so proud of her. I remember being miserable for a year too when I quit smoking. Now it has been 45 or 46 years!

Timed for 10 minutes: Hair.

My plan is to drive into Grand Rapids or Hibbing today for a haircut. Well, maybe just a split-end trim. I can’t do it myself, rather I don’t trust myself. That would be a sight for sore eyes as my mother used to say!

Probably not that bad! But I am not sure if that would be a good idea or not. I love the touch of my hair after a trim at the salon. It feels soft and I can tell there are no split, dry ends. And it smells pretty good too.

When I walk, I can feel the swish of my hair when my body moves. Overall, it is a good feeling, even if it does cost me more than I planned to spend. My daughter used to be my stylist and split-end trimmer.

Last week I told her that I have a purple dye in my bathroom that I would like her to put in one of these weeks. She will. It is more about finding the time to get together to do that.

When I was a young girl, I used to love seeing the old ladies with blue hair and now I am one of those old ladies, only it will be purple for me. I am not objecting to blue. I just like purple better now.

My hair is thinning, and I should probably not use a color. I was told once that I shouldn’t perm or dye my hair as it could come out and not grow back. I have something called alopecia. It is an autoimmune condition.

What happens is small round bald spots appear and I have to have scalp injections for the hair to regrow. So far that works, and it has been further and further apart.

Some people grow hair back with a topical medicine. That doesn’t work for me. Sometimes it takes two or three times for the scalp injections to fully grow back. That is why it is nice to have it not happen much anymore!

Hair is so nice when it is thick and curly like my daughter's hair. She got her hair look from her father. My granddaughter has her grandmother's hair. She inherited her hair look from her grandma. I’m sorry!

Timed for 90 seconds: Feathers.

I have an eagle feather that I use to smudge every week. I am the culture consultant at a mental health crisis shelter. It is important to talk about all the ways that Native American people growing up in the culture have learned to care for ourselves.

Smudging is just one of the ways. My eagle feather is 40+ years old.

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Note: KJ Aartila’s “What” is poetry. I haven’t gotten there. I hope to. It’s only day three! I will think of poetry and rhyme next time.

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First published in Mercury Press on medium.com