Day 593: 5 Minute Freewrite: Wednesday - Prompt: carnation
Mnemosyne remembered the story, of course ... she had heard it while growing up a thousand times...
The year was 1934. Her great-grandfather had arrived in America a poor Greek immigrant, and had gotten even poorer. The Great Depression was raging.
Nonetheless, her great-grandmother was very rich -- in beauty, a gorgeous young woman of solid WASP background. She was poor, too, but she had no trouble getting attention from the abundance of richer young men who lived in and around New York City.
However, she chose none of them. She chose the handsome young Greek who walked by her tenement on his paper route every day to rich men's homes, who she knew spent almost all that he made every day on buying ONE carnation for her, every day.
"Rich men are good, but they want a lot for just a little bit. He has nearly nothing, but to him I am worth all he has. That one carnation is worth the world to him, and to me."
So, at the end of the week that he finally made enough to buy TWO carnations every day, she and he eloped, and got married. By that time, he had enough for her to have FOUR carnations for a bouquet. They just kept going and going and going together, and things bloomed and blossomed all around them.
By the time Mnemosyne arrived at the grave site, she was one of 58 great-grandchildren, and the family was quite wealthy.
She put a bouquet of 59 carnations on her great-grandfather's grave, however... just ONE extra, just because.
Photo Credit: User35467 on Unsplash
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Thank you, @helpie and @sunravelme -- but @helpiecake, you're ruining my diet! I SOOOOOOOO want some chocolate cake now!
Cool story @deeanndmathews
https://steemit.com/freewrite/@mariannewest/day-594-5-minute-freewrite-thursday-prompt-not-normal
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That GIF is hilarious!
It's "not normal" 😁
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Sure enough!
All your stories sound so true, so authentic, as if you heard them growing up and internalized them. This one is so sweet!
I was always a voracious reader, and my parents and grandparents surrounded me with good stories, both fiction and non-fiction -- and then, they themselves lived (and are living) interesting lives, and were big readers, and their wide circle was also interesting, filled with all kinds of people.. THEN add on top of that a deep sense of what is important and true informed by generations of devout practice of Christianity, which has the redemption aspect so central. I do occasionally write from a darker perspective... history offers many such turns, even if we just deal with, say, the reasons behind the financial crises of the last decade. Plenty of material on that side too. But I am more interested in what is being redeemed out of a dark world, not exploring the darkness itself...
I am more interested in what is being redeemed out of a dark world, not exploring the darkness itself... yes!!! Thank you !!!
Your parents and grandparents raised you well. You are a natural storyteller. You honed your listening skills from a young age - something that is key to the success of Suzuki students. Dr. Suzuki knew that Listening to music played well (and played right, according to the musical score) makes students hear themselves better and understand how they should sound (not just hit the right note written on the page). You have that - you have that innate sense of choosing words and finding a narrative voice, and sounding "real."
Thank you so much... "real" is what I strive for!