Averil Dean's Blog, page 24

Zin

If you could return to the past to relive a part of your life, either to experience the wonderful bits again, or to do something over, which part of your life would you return to? Why?

This is one of those Monkey’s Paw questions that makes me wary. Every life is marred by unhappy events that change the course of things, and the temptation is to get behind them and avoid. I had one of those yesterday, when my husband fell out of his rig and broke his arm. I’d warn him if I could: Don’t jump bac...

Groove

It makes me crazy when people wear their shoes in my house. What habit/act drives you crazy? How do you prevent it from happening?

This question reminds me of a label we used to have in the bathroom at work: PLEASE HANG TOILET PAPER IN THE WATERFALL POSITION. My coworker and I would roll our eyes at that. OCD much? But the sign isn’t there anymore. On her last day of work, my cohort peeled off the label and stuck it under my keyboard, and we tittered like children at her boldness.

I am not driv...

Creed

Have you got a code you live by? What are the principles or set of values you actively apply in your life?

Just one, a line from Hamlet. It doesn’t mean for me what it meant to Polonius, so maybe I’ve already bent it out of shape in that special, new-agey way we do when searching for a personal creed. But here it is, for what it’s worth. Truncated and T-shirt ready:

To thine own self be true.

Cradle

Got a soul-mate and/or a best friend? What is it about that person that you love best? Describe them in great detail — leave no important quality out.

Six feet tall. Sandy brown hair, brown eyes. Tiny charming gap between his front teeth and a voice so deep it barely registers to the human ear. Wide shoulders perfectly level at the collarbone. Nose which has been broken at least once and gives him a profile fit for the head of a coin. Thick forearms. Big strong hands, perfect for opening stubb...

Red Lines

We all feel down from time to time. How do you combat the blues? What’s one tip you can share with others that always helps to lift your spirits?

Gin?

Sorry, low-hanging fruit, but then I’ve never been much of a one for the sort of plucky affirmation that seems to be called for here. I’m more of a wallower. I get quiet, withdraw, and wait it out, and I try not to inflict damage on myself or anyone else during the down time. I don’t attempt to talk myself out of what I’m feeling. Periods of mela...

Humbug

Are you full of confidence or have you ever suffered from imposter syndrome? Tell us all about it.

Photo by Ellen Von Unwerth

Zig-Zag

Do you believe in fate or do you believe you can control your own destiny?

This question seems to imply that one or the other of these is true. I suppose an argument could be made for certain theories of time that suggest past, present, and future exist in some cosmic location already, and only consciousness is fluid. Maybe everything happens for a reason and the reason is that the future requires it. A scientist might be able to apply a theory of space-time to a life philosophy in a way that...

Amber

What are the three most memorable moments — good or bad, happy or sad — in your life? Go!

I’m not sure a life can be distilled to a top three this way. I have three children and I remember each of their births in vivid detail—except for my daughter’s actual delivery, during which I was unconscious. I remember my father’s death. The love in my husband’s face when we took our vows. The main events loom large because of the importance we place on them at the time, and the way we return to them o...

The Ladder

How do you feel about your job? Do you spring out of bed, looking forward to work? Or, is your job a soul-destroying monotony of pure drudgery, or somewhere in between?

First of all, I think we need to give the Daily Prompt a proper name, so that at times like these I can say, Oh, [insert name], how well you know me this fine Monday morning. Are you looking into my soul, [insert name]? Do you feel my pain?

I’m sure something will come to us. Back to the question.

Photo by Ellen Von Unwerth

I don...

Nightbird

What kind of sleeper are you? Do you drop off like a stone and awaken refreshed, or do you need pitch black and silence to drift off to dream?

I drop off just fine. It’s staying asleep that’s the problem. Last night I woke at 3am after a dream in which I had an incurable cancer and was trying to round up a back-up writer to finish my book in case I couldn’t get it done in time. (All of you were like, Forget it, Averil, you’ll just have to write faster.) It was a sweet dream, in a way. I was b...