Thursday, February 28, 2013

The Family History Writing Challenge-Final Day-A Family Excursion

This is the final day, or should I say, the final evening of the Family History Writing Challenge for 2013. Have I met my goal completely...no. Yet, I have made a start.

The past week has proven a tremendous challenge as work issues mount, my schedule is disturbed in its early morning slumber just before rising to write....and rather than putting words on a screen, I am putting casseroles into an oven, the creativity of cooking for the hungry squelching every bit of creativity of words for the reader....and every bit of energy wrung out of me like soapy water from a dish rag.

And so, this piece was begun on the 23rd day of February...and look, tomorrow begins a new month already! I am determined to finish...to complete this work to its ultimate ending.

This is not farewell, but it is most likely the final post of this nature till next year. I will continue writing...and at times I will offer you glimpses of what I am working on...perhaps a character study, or a scenic description...but, most of my writing will appear again on the main blog, or on the family history journal.

I hope that you will drop by from time to time and offer a comment....

And now, A Family Excursion, Part I

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The Mystery Tours Inc. "Ultimate Lunch Cruise" from Beaufort, North Carolina, was not scheduled to depart until noon on Saturday, July 18th. This was an optional reunion activity which cost an additional twenty-five dollars per adult. My husband and I have always enjoyed historical cruises of local areas. So naturally, we awoke early, got showered and dressed, and came down to the Hampton Inn cafe for breakfast.

I had expected to see more family members seated or at least grabbing that first cup of morning coffee...then I realized, that first cup was most likely brewed in the bedroom, to arrive less bleary-eyed at breakfast. But in fact, most of our extended family were still snug in their beds, enjoying a chance to sleep in a little later than usual. Of course it had been a temptation, but when you're away from home, there is always so much to experience that my husband and I never sleep in much later than seven o'clock.

After surveying the fare, I got some yogurt, a muffin and an omelet, a glass of orange juice and a cup of hazelnut coffee, and located an unoccupied table. Around us, parents coaxed their sleepy children to take another bite while their energetic siblings bounced from the chair to the floor, around the table and back to the chair again. It is interesting to see how even from childhood, a morning person can be spotted within a crowd.

I am definitely not a morning person. My husband learned after the first ten or so years of marriage, that it was best not to speak to me any more than a brief Good Morning before I had my first cup of coffee. Any more would either not penetrate the grog of sleepiness, or might even evoke a grumble or two. And sometimes any more than Morning is more than I can bear. Unlike the virtual optimist who expresses any morning that we're alive...vertical...and moving as good, I usually reserve that commentary until I have fully experienced the wake-up ritual.

Across the room sat a sofa and cushioned chairs before a large screen television, mounted on the wall above an ornamental fireplace. A few sat comfortably, sipping their coffee...or in my husband's case, reminiscent of Jean-Luc Picard aboard the Enterprise-D: Tea, Earl Gray, hot...and watching the morning news, weather and sports review. At the tables adjoining the cafe and the television area,  several businessmen read their morning newspapers.

By the time the families had nearly finished their breakfast, the channel changed to Saturday morning cartoons...unlike the cartoons of my childhood....

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To be continued...

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