Lunar Girl

Guys, look, I know, ok?  I *knoooow*.  It's been too long, amirite?  But for Pete's sake, I forgot to pay my rent this month even though I had the money order sitting right there because that's how cuckoo it's been in my house. I've been up to my eyeballs in homework (trying to get ahead), the kids (who somehow keep getting into more and more stuff!), and writing....Just not writing for here.  I mean writing for here, just not ever getting around to posting it here.  Bad, bad, bad Eri.  I know.  So I hope this little thing about the moon that I cobbled together will serve as proper apology for now. 

The moon and I have always been connected.  One of the earliest kids' movies I remember loving was An American Tale, and we all remember that song.  The notion that we are all under the same sky provides comfort to me, we all see the same moon and that gives me a deeper connection to humanity which, in turn, makes me a better human (at least that's the plan).  I take enormous comfort in the sight of a huge moon, or even the sliver of a moon in my night sky.  Whether she's full or whether she's not, she rules this world.  The muse in my head turns her into her own muse.  She will even, at some point be a major portion of a very important tattoo.  So, please, read.  Tell me what you think.  Do the moon cycles affect you?  Do you feel closer to the world citizenship when you see that night sky?  Feedback is welcome and encouraged (just don't be a dick, amen).

The Rocky River Run

At night, as I stare up at the moon, anxious for the solace and comfort of her milky, lunar embrace, I hear her quiet call “you were the bravest”. The bravest because every night, I rush against the raging river, running towards her. Each rock in the riverbed cuts me with the words that were said or, worse, unsaid. I run against the current, not caring about the blood and bruises on my soul. I run towards her to reach the softness of her lap, the power of her hug and the truth in her words. She reminds me that it is courage to open up all of my heart and my life to someone. It is fortitude to live long enough to see it through, to tell it goodbye and let it go when it becomes too costly. (C) (ESR) (2016)

Happy Birthday!

I have been blessed in the course of my life to have not just my own (amazing) Jersey Mama, but many other mother figures in my life, as well.  One of those people is my ex-husband's mom, Melanie.  From the get go, and certainly from the start of our marriage back in 2002, Melanie has always referred to me not as her "daughter-in-law", but simply as her daughter.  Even after the divorce, she has never let me or my kids go.  She has made herself a valuable part of my life, even telling me that I completed her family.  She is not just a Mom, she is one of my very best friends and a fierce crusader for my boys and even for me.  She has brought David into the family and accepted him as one of her own.  She taught me about baking, gardening and sewing.  She is smart, beautiful, kind, funny and loving.  Her and I love to spend time together and I think we bring out the ornery streak in each other!  It's been joked we shouldn't be allowed to sit by each other at supper tables!  She has always welcomed me and mine into her home and never makes me feel like a burden.  She.is.amazing.  Yesterday was her birthday!  So, please join me in wishing this incredibly lady a Happy (belated) Birthday!  Love you, always and forever, Mom/Grandma Faraways!

Eri, David, Nathan and Joshua

Reasons my husband should have been sainted #1

My husband is a great guy.  He's steadfast and strong and ferociously protective of our family.  He also shares my interests in serial killers, gore and the macabre.  So the other day when he asked, "Hey, didn't the Son of Sam kill a cabbie?" I was super delighted, but also a little pissed because he was wrong.  Before I could even get a glare fired off, I had barked "no! Zodiac killed a cabbie!"* in a super annoyed fashion.  So he's awesome and he gets me, it's just that he hasn't evolved to my level of creepy.

*It's worth noting that Son of Sam *worked* as a cabbie, but he didn't kill one.  

There already *IS* a Joey, Kap....

Colin Kaepernick gave a statement today, regarding his refusal to stand for the National Anthem.  As I read it aloud to my hubby, I thought to myself "WHY does this statement feel so familiar?!".  Then I realized, Kap's channeling his inner Joey.  Sorry, buddy, you're no Baby Kangaroo Tribbiani.

You don't *have* to love America....

A bit of bio: My husband, that sexy, mohawked, tatooed beast, is a USAF vet.  This colors my opinion of the situation, only slightly, as this would have enraged me before I was married to him.

Dear Colin Kaepernick:  ESPN called me yesterday to tell me about your decision to sit throughout the playing of the National Anthem before the San Francisco game.  This is your right.  My husband fought for your right to behave in such a fashion.  You don't have to love America.  However, the notion that you are being paid an alarming (conservative) estimate of $113 million dollars in a contract to play an American game and you don't love your nation, makes you a dick.  Feel free to give that money back (although, $61 million of it is guaranteed to you, God Bless America) or play for "free" and give that money to veterans' charities.  I understand your right to protest.  I, personally, will be writing letters to the NFL and to the 49'ers Front Office and to every.single.endorsement.source I can find until you are humiliated for being such a hypocritical piece of shit.  I have little patience for people who have made a great life for themselves off the backs of the past times of the American people and then disrespect this nation.  Every fan who has bought one of your jerseys or paid for a seat in the 49'ers stadium has helped make you who you are.  That includes the veterans who fought for your right to sit down, as a show of disrespect, for this nation.  My apologies, Mr. Kaepernick, we didn't realize you didn't want to go to college for free and make a living here.  Feel free to find a nation more suitable to your needs (though I would advise against any of those "great nations" where you are forbidden from protesting your government).  As one would expect your conscience to dictate here, that 61 million dollars will do a lot of good for charities and helping the poor people of your community.

With my sincerest apologies for all your "discomfort",
Eri

Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried"

This will be my third work-through this book.  Each time I find some new passage, some new idea, something they carried, that struck me.  Today, it's the passage (P.S. I obviously don't own this, but I also don't have time, atm, to look up how to properly cite this).

The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien - page 21:

" They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die.  Grief, terror, love, longing --these were intangibles, but the intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight.  They carried shameful memories.  They carried the common secret of cowardice barely restrained, the instinct to run or freeze or hide, and in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down, it required perfect balance and perfect posture.  They carried their reputations.  They carried the soldier's greatest fear, which was the fear of blushing.  Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to."

This is an amazing book, truly what will someday be (if it is not already, I don't always dwell in the most popular of literary circles) a classic for all the ages because, war as we all know, is timeless.  When I think about the things that I would carry to war, my heart almost trembles.  And that's why I've decided to write it....

To Be Continued.....

"Red"

I have a few current reading/writing obsessions.  I remain Poe-sessed and my fondness for Fitzgerald has never waned.  But, thanks to the joy of the intrawebz, you can now find little gems like 6 word stories (try it!) or even bits of prose where the author* is describing the color without naming the color.  I use these two trends as writing prompts daily.  Feel free, as always, to leave your own versions in the commentary (do NOT, however, feel free to steal my own work and pass it as your own...I will find you).  So, today, because I'm watching Red Sox baseball (DAMMIT.SOX.) and because it's been a whammer-jammer of a weekend, I present you with:  "Red".

"Red" Erica S. Rhodes (C)(2016)

It's the color of her favorite flower, petal after petal where she would whisper, “he loves me”, “he loves me not”. It was the color of the little drop of blood that would drop down if she snagged her finger on the flower's thorn. It was the color of the hearts she drew with their initials inside. It was the color of the lipstick she wore on their first date, turned to a softer pink when it smudged across his own lips. It was the color of the single flower he would bring to every date, her favorite flower, he always was a great listener. It was the color of passion, the color of her long feminine nails as she did decidedly unfeminine things. It was the color of the Ruby baubles he would buy to placate her, to distract her, perhaps to woo her. It was the blush to her cheeks when she realized she wasn't the only one. It was the color that darkened her soft grey eyes as she screamed and cried and lashed out. It was the color of the pills she took to stay in Wonderland and the color of the wine she chased it with. It was the color that dripped from her wrists and stained her bathwater, when Wonderland disappeared. It was the color that dripped across her skin. It was the color that was written on the white tile beside her body, “I loved you”.  ESR-8/21/

*Why yes, yes I am a published author now.  Thank you so much for noticing.  Those interested can read the response piece (To Kate Chopin's The Story of an Hour)here (beginning around page 121, make sure you scroll to the end to read my bio):  The Leather Bound Journal!  My next three (!!!!) pieces will be available in the same creative magazine in the Spring of 2017.  Until then,  you may see me out and about the local NE writer's scene <3