This is a piece I wrote yesterday. I was stuck waiting and anticipated that I might be so I wrote down today's list of words in a notebook, packed my trusty pen, and I was set! The lesson: be prepared to take advantage of stolen minutes to write.

March 30, 2004

Write for 10 minutes using as many of the words in the following word list as possible. Any form of the word will do: pasta, flame, ignore, cactus, arctic, vibrate, croon, tough, glass, purple, silky, tomorrow

It was tough to ignore how Perry Como's bass croon, when played at maximum volume, could vibrate her breastbone. She paused to feel it fully. There was no sound quite as satisfying as a bass voice holding a low note. When it passed, she continued her work.

She flicked at the wrinkles in the purple-blue linen tablecloth that had settled over the small round table. The setting began when she centered two white tapers, secure in cut-glass candlesticks that threw lavendar sparks when light touched them. She fingered the gassamer silk of the white tatted placemat before placing it. The china was white, trimmed in silver, the silver graced with a twining vine and a single rose. Dinner plate, salad plate, dinner fork, salad fork, dinner knife and tablespoon, wine glass, water glass, even a dessert spoon and fork placed above the plates. The napkin was lavendar with a small white print held tight by a silver napkin ring. When she finally stood back, her handiwork smiled back at her with elegant grace.

Soon she was filling salad plates with an elegant mix of tender greens and hot-house cherry tomatoes. A covered serving dish didn't seal away the starchy warmth of well-cooked pasta. It was already mingling with the invisible evidence of a rich alfredo. Then there was shrimp and garlic. The sweet tang of her favorite Zinfindel. Finally she touched a match to the wick of each candle and watched as the flame took hold and burned steadily. It was all perfect. She sighed and hit the replay button so that she could be serenaded while she ate.

She sat down, spreading the napkin over her black silk evening dress and fully immersed herself in the tastes, smells, sounds and textures that filled her soul with joy. There was only now and sheer satisfaction. No tomorrow allowed.

***

In the morning she woke and as had been true these past few days, the first thing she felt were those familiar cactus spines poking at her heart, enshrined in some arctic casing that barely let it beat. But she could remember other things besides loss and pain. Had she not proved she could take care of her own well-being? She breathed deeply, gathering courage with her oxygen, touched her feet to the floor and stepped into her day, moment by moment, hour by hour, dinner by dinner as she moved forward.