5.29.2013

Slices {An Abstraction on the Afternoon} & an Announcement About Concrete Words



It's slippery wet as the skin is peeled off and drops to the ground. I bite right into the lushness and it's like an aquifer. The water gushes and runs down my hands and their arms and the fiber-strings pull apart juicy sweet in between my teeth. A giggle bubbles up and I look at her and smile. Its strong tropic taste is nostalgic of a poisonous fruit, like a root you may have pulled up out of the ground in the Amazon jungle in the middle of nowhere, famished and ravishing its succulent oasis found inside there. It's a little like this for us too, with beans and rice littering most of our days, scattered out over hot, baked-in, tongue-sticking-to-your-mouth humid afternoons.

It smells slightly toxic and pleasantly curative all at once, like a flower, like an infectious weed. They all beg for more, even the tiniest one. "Li-bit, Ma-ma? Li-bit?" We sit around the old woven, tangled hammock under our Sand Plum.

I voraciously gnaw at it until there isn't much left and can't stop greedily suckling in the profane lush that was hiding under all that green skin. I only now realize how undernourished I was, how thirsty. The more I bite and squeeze and pull, the more I want.

The sun's rays call to me, gently pull on my skin like sirens. The little ones, they all run off, leave me in my ravenous hunger. The fruit is so fertile with life, and I suck it dry, a crescent all used up.

My sundress caves into the valley of me as I walk and I think blissfully of Husband returning in a few hours, how I'll take him into my arms and love him.

The little one comes back and wants the last couple bites. I hand it over and she wanders the yard, grinding at the core of the fruit for the last of it's yield, slurping what goodness is left to be had. I tip a cup over her hands and wash all the sticky off her hands and arms. She looks at me with big eyes and gallops off.

I lay on the lawn chair writing, with the sun on my back until the shadows creep over and I've drank in enough deep breaths and it's time to go inside.

The afternoon is meted out in slices of fruit pared and placed in tiny, chubby hands waiting, and their small clothes folded in neat stacks side by side on the couch.

I call out to them, "I love you, all of you, my sweet children." They don't say anything, but I know they hear it.

In the space of this time, last drops of sunlight filtering in, it seems the day could last forever and the stacks of clothes beckon me to put them away.







212 from Nacole Simmons on Vimeo.
Gratitude: {1119-1135} warm days :: sweet fruit :: watching my girls swim at practice :: the chlorine, the restful sound of splashing :: having a sweet little friend of Ivy's overnight :: cutting her hair and how adorable it turned out :: having her brothers stay to play :: seven kids in a house with just me :: going to see a civil war re-enactment :: assorted doughnuts :: working outside in my flowerbeds--the first time I've had this much energy in a long time :: a beautiful Memorial day celebration :: grilling out and time with family :: my grandmother's hands making food in my kitchen :: Pina Coladas :: a spontaneous trip to town to get school review books for the girls

{This post shared with AnnLaura, Jen, Jennifer for #TellHisStoryImperfect Prose, the EO and Michelle} 


*************

***Dear readers, this will be the last Concrete Words post that I will write for this summer. My husband and I have decided to send the girls back to public school this fall, so that I can rest and recover from chronic illness, and this Mama has a ton to do to get them ready for a test in July. I will have a couple of guest writers to host--the sweet Ashley Larkin has agreed to host it here at sixinthesticks on June 10th, and the ever-dedicated to Concrete Words Ruth Povey will be taking it on July 1st. I hope you will come back here for that! I have had so much fun with Concrete Words since Amber Haines said sixinthesticks will be it's home for good. I hope those of you who have been with Amber the whole time will be along for this wild, fun ride! I've never had so much fun with writing!! We will hit the ground running again with #concretewords when school begins in August. 
     
**************


What this link-up is about: We "write out spirit" by practicing writing about the invisible using concrete words. In case you are going "what in the world is a concrete word?!"--this just means (using the prompt to inspire) write out what's around us--concrete words make the senses come alive, gives place. In every story, there is always an above and beneath, a beside, something tucked away, aromas in the air, something calling in the trees or from the street, notes in our pocket, rocks in our shoes, sand between our toes. Go here to see Amber's take on this. It was very helpful to me--I think it will be beneficial for you, too.

A few simple guidelines:       1. Be sure you link up the URL to your Concrete Words
                                             post and not just your blog home page URL.
                                         2. Put a link to this post on your blog so that others
                                             can find their way back here.
                                         3. Try to visit one or two others and encourage their efforts
                                         4. Please write along with us, using concrete words--
                                             Please no entries with how-to's, advertising, or
                                             sponsored posts
                                         5. We connect on twitter with the hashtag #concretewords--
                                               please share so others can join!

Today's prompt is the Afternoon


The prompt for June 10th is the Morning .{I'll highlight a beautiful post from this link-up on Friday (and announce it on social media), so come back here to see whose post is highlighted and encourage them!}

Guess what didn't get done when the internet was off here all weekend? A highlighted Concrete Words post! My choice is:

Ruth Povey at learning {one day at a time}--The Cup

and Kelli Woodford, our guest writer last week, chose:
Karin Deaver at Come Along the Way--The Cup

Can y'all give Ruth and Karin some lovin' and share their posts? Be sure to connect with the hashtag #concretewords!


Now let's have fun with concrete words!

5 comments:

  1. I had to put my kids in school after keeping them home for several years when my emotional health gave me no other choices. It was hard for me but good for me---the right thing. Praying your transition goes well for everyone. (That story has me wanting to hold out my hand for a bite of that fruit.) Blessings.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a beautiful description of your afternoon. I love to see a momma's love through your eyes. I too am in the middle of testing and preparing kids for public school after 7 years of having them home. I am praying for you and looking forward to August when you join us again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. now *this* was an afternoon worth remembering. love it. wish we were neighbors and i could live it right alongside you. :)
    did i tell you? we are sending our oldest 4 to school in the fall too. it takes a certain kind of courage to home school, but only those who have done it know that it takes another kind of bravery to put them back in school. i hold onto this when i get fearful.
    thank you for being you. and for letting yourself be seen.
    i love you.

    ReplyDelete
  4. dear girl, i love this. you make me taste the fruit. so proud of you for the decisions you're making re: family and praying the Lord will ease all of you into it. love you. xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nacole, I want to curl up in the sun in your yard with you and those darling girls (and I'll bring a handful of mine) and we'll savor a sweet afternoon all over again- each slice. Your words are beautiful. Always. And your heart- beautiful is an understatement. I agree with Kelli- about the courage it takes to put your girls back in school- and I am praying for all of you as you live brave and faithful to the One who is leading you each step of the way. Many blessings over your summer.

    ReplyDelete

ShareThis?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...