San Diego Momma has a wonderful writing exercise called Prompt Tuesday. I’ve particpated a couple times and when I saw the latest prompt on Aunt Snow’s blog, I was completely inspired! Lately, my blog mojo has been severely depleted…and I can’t say that this will change. I miss (and regret losing) my readers, but I can’t seem to make myself write! In this instance, tho, it was quite easy. Without further ado:

“I hadn’t seen him since high school…”

But I had thought about him a few times over the years. I’d be talking to someone about drawing and I’d say: I used to know this guy who could draw amazingly well. I remember mentioning him to a few friends. I even saw an article about him in the local paper one time when the company he works for wouldn’t agree to the requests from the union he belongs to, and they went on strike. The paper interviewed him about striking while trying to take care of a family. I remember seeing that and showing it to my Mom, saying, look, it’s Dave L! I also remember reading he had three kids and thought…with a tinge of regret, oh he’s married, hope he’s happy (he wasn’t).

I remember him as being talented…and I vaguely have a memory of him playing guitar…but my primary memory of him was how kind he was to me. How quiet and kind of shy in one sense, but in a group setting, he was able to draw me out, not necessarily an easy thing (even today, but I’m getting better at it).

When we began dating in 2010, I grabbed an old box in my spare room where my old diary was. I’d gotten it to see if there was mention of him in it (there was). But also, tucked into a calendar in the box was a flyer for a concert…featuring the band he was in back then. I can’t remember if I knew he was in a band, or even if I went…and it was strange to find another connection to him in my long ago past. We got a good laugh out of that…as well as a sense of amazement.

Two things I kept over the years were letters he’d written. They didn’t say anything spectacular, although he got a kick out of reading them in the here and now. I kept them because I loved the drawings on the back of the letters. One was even in a frame, behind another picture, but at one point I guess I’d framed it.

I love these things that connect us…just as much as I love him. I’ve had two marriages, two live in loves that all lasted four years. This one? I have a feeling (and I’ve never had this feeling before) that it will last for the rest of my life, however long that might be.

Facebook, thank you for this wonderful gift! This relationship, routed in the past and brought to fruition in the present, is one of the top 10 best things that have ever happened to me.

Cheri’s post reminded me about PROMPTuesdays!

It was a dark and stormy night and she was curled up in her favorite chair with a good book and a hot cup of tea. As absorbed in the story as she was, it took awhile for the sound to register and when it did she sat bolt upright, set the book down and listened so hard the silence was deafening. Then…tick tick tick. She heard it again, so soft it was barely a sound. Tick tick tick. It was beginning to get on her nerves. Tick tick tick. Where in the hell was that coming from? Tick tick tick. One slow, two fast. Tick tick tick. TICK tick tick. Tick…ticktick! She followed the sound to the corner of the room…and found…

What do you think she found?

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It was a dark and stormy night, just how she liked them! Her glass of rum and coke, beaded with condensation, sat on the small porch table as she awaited the approaching storm. It was warm that evening, and with no street lights or stars, the darkness was oddly comforting. In the darkness, there were no expectations. She could be who she wanted to be…a pirate, a woman waiting for her lover, a spirit. As the lightning flashed, she thought she saw something towards the back of the yard. She sat back, giddy with anticipation. At the next flash, the figure she’d spotted with a bit closer and by the third flash, closer still. She shivered, wishing she’d brought a soft blanket out with her, even though the night was warm. The lightning flashed again and the figure was at the bottom of the porch steps, hand outstretched. The decision made, she rose from her chair, slowly, so slowly walked down the stairs and joined him in the darkness.

Cheri turned me on to PROMPTuesdays…let’s see how I do, or as The Joker would say: And here we…..GO!

Deception has been part of my life for so long, I don’t know any other way. Deceiving, not telling the truth, outright lies…it’s all there. For example, this morning I deceived my boss. I told her I was late because I had to take care of Dad…but really, I was late because I was watching Craig Ferguson (the Scottish host of the Late Late Show…hot, great accent, really funny). His guest was Eric Idle, from the famous Comedy Troupe, Monty Python. I loved them back in the day…smoke a joint, or do something else just a bit before it came on (no DVRs, VCRs or anything like it back then) and laugh and laugh. Of course, you could laugh without the chemical aids but…hey, it was the 70s.

So…deception. I deceived my first husband, and my second as well. I won’t say how, but why? Because I could. Sometimes deception is so much easier than the truth. Sometimes, tho, it comes back to bite you in the ass. My ass hasn’t been bitten yet…but there’s still time, plenty of it (both time and ass). At least, I THINK there’s time. That’s another thing: Life deceives you in many ways and one of those ways is thinking you have time to do this or time to do that. Maybe you do…and maybe you don’t. A bit scary, if you stop to think about it. But I don’t. Because in addition to deception, I practice lots and lots of hiding my head in the sand. A deceptive ostrich, that’s me!

Why? Who knows…maybe it’s part of my genes, maybe it’s a coping mechanism, maybe it’s just the way I am. But I’ve pretty much been this way since I can remember. Can an old dog learn new tricks? Better yet, why would an old dog want to learn new tricks? He (or she) gets fed either way…

Deception; wicked, tricksy, false, something Gollum said in the LOTR movies. Maybe that’s why my license plate says GOLLUM. Maybe that’s why I identify with Snape? Nah, that’s another story altogether. But…I bet it’s why I’m so entranced by Heath Ledger’s portrayal of The Joker. No ego, a bit of a sadist, but…is that the truth or just what I want to see?

You tell me…deception. Is it part of your life? It’s part of mine…just like coffee and photography and Led Zeppelin and a lovely little shiba inu named Wolf.

Deception: this whole story was a deception