Pick Up Sticks (SOLSC 14/31)

I am seeing more and more evidence of the beginnings of spring.  The itty bitty buds on the tree -- leaves just barely peeking out at the morning sun.  It's new life on a tree that was otherwise completely bare.  It still LOOKS bare until you get up close.  

Below, there is a smattering of sticks scattered around the base of the same tree.  It's old life shed from encounters with all of the wind and rain we have experienced in the past few weeks.  

I can't help but smile and remember a time when I myself was just beginning and the sticks I used to see everywhere in my pawpaw's yard.  The tiny buds remind me of my own tiny hands, clasped around the cool metal handle of a bright red wagon.  

In the summer, my pawpaw would set us out to pick up objects in his backyard -- I assume now that it might have been to help him have an easier time mowing.  I was accompanied by my sister as we dragged that wagon among the many trees of my pawpaw's backyard.  Every few feet we would stop and begin the process of picking up the trees' discarded items: sticks, pine cones, and green apples.  

Each would be tossed into the wagon and we would move on.  When we were done, my pawpaw always awarded us with some of his pocket change for our efforts.

Now, as I navigate the sidewalk with my dog, I have to resist the urge to stop and pick up some of the sticks.

Today's writing was inspired by one of the March Daily Writing Prompt from Teach Write.

A Hoard of Hats (SOLSC 5/31)

 

While I may not have actively used this blog until this very Slice of Life challenge, I have still been actively blogging and writing.  My blogging has mainly been through a more professional capacity as I have taken ownership of the Teach Write, LLC.  As for my writing I would say the majority of it is dedicated to writing lesson plans or content for Teach Write.  So, again, professional.

I do find the time to pen the occasional poem and share it on platforms like Ethical ELA or Teach Write's monthly challenge padlet.  Not to mention the time I spend in my notebook and my sentence a day journal. But, even with that, more of my writing is professional, not personal, and I am hoping between this challenge and the coming poetry month to change that.

I write all of that to say: here is a poem. I wrote this poem last month for the Teach Write monthly challenge, but I am sharing it now on my public blog.  

It is also a slice since it tackles a moment last month when I was thinking of all of the hats I own -- though I couldn't tell you why.  It's not a huge collection or even all that special, not like my Pawpaw's hat collection.  He had a whole room full of just hats.  

I hadn't thought of that collection in over a decade.  It was one of those collections where he probably started with a small amount and then, over time, people just started buying him hats as souvenirs on their trips or as gifts for his birthday.  I remember that most of them either had funny sayings or destinations printed on the front.  I know at one point when we went to Disney World we brought him back a Goofy hat.  

By the time of his passing there were rows upon rows of hats hanging from the walls of that room.  I am not sure where most of them went -- to various family members I imagine.  This was the poem I wrote as I recalled those hats: