• Artwork,  General Thoughts,  High School Short Stories,  Short Stories

    The Summer of Reality

    This story was part of the collection of writing samples I submitted for the Creative Writing Scholarship contest at Arkansas Tech University in Spring 1999. I placed 4th, so I was pretty excited about that. The scholarship paid for my books for my first year in college.  The Summer of Reality, 1999 The last day that I was ever fifteen, I went to the mall with my Mom, my aunt Carrie, and my best friend Melanie. Earlier that morning, I mailed a letter that could change my whole life if the receiver decided to at least humor me. During the previous school year, I had developed a crush on a new boy…

  • Essays,  General Thoughts

    I grew up feeling ugly, did you?

                  I went through some old photos recently in preparation for my post about my daddy’s guitar. As I was looking at my baby pictures, I thought I was pretty cute. I see how much my daughter resembles me and I think she is beautiful.  When I was about 3, the age Meredith is in the photo, I had to start wearing glasses. Glasses for kids back in the early 80s were not near as attractive as they are now. They pretty much looked like old lady glasses. Like Sophia on “The Golden Girls.” I hated my glasses until I got the pair that had little strawberry…

  • College Poetry,  Poetry

    Buried Within

    “Buried Within” 12-22-99 Buried within, my lonely heart cries, with pain often reserved for when someone special dies. How in the hell can I see other men, when I can’t stop thinking of what might have been? The one thing I do feel is love, so strong and endless, as if sent from above. I saw fear and confusion when I looked into his eyes, but never once thought I’d see lies. Everyone says my love for him is not a sin, and perhaps it is not my heart that is buried within.