Simple task

Thanksgiving morning

Needed aluminum foil

To cover baking turkey

Still chilly 36

Jacket wallet keys

Poor Walmart employees

Still stocking shelves

Open parking spaces at 7:46

Opened door

Put legs out on concrete

Noticed pretty quickly

No pants on

Just last year’s Christmas pajama bottoms

In my defense dark green with little Santa’s

But really a brief moment of ‘what had I done’

Surely the cold weather, the early hours, the season

Would distract staff and fellow shoppers

Then quite clearly this fallacious belief

Was dismissed by slight glances

Eyes lowered, looked away, smirks

Even being spoken too as if I should not have been released

“Excuse me sweetie”

And there is no way going faster hides the obvious

Speed seems to just garner more attention

Never did I think my car would truly be my get away

‘On Donner, on Blitzer

Please speed away to anonymity

FXC 11/28/19

Copyright

Never thought I’d see you leave

Always on stage

Hosting family and friends

On the phone

Listening, encouraging, consoling

Always we were in your arms

Being held with your love

Always you listened, not judging

Today is the first Thanksgiving

Without you sitting at our table

Though there you are with your soft eyes

Always, always still warming us

While happy or sad

Today it seems we still need your love

More than ever

Tears and smiles seem to mark our existence

Though I called you Mom

Many younger ones called you

Grandma ma Mary!

Thank you so much Mom!

Love you forever

FXC 11/28/19

Copyright

Lingering in the shadows

Of relationships

Unspoken topics

That are in their place for a reason

Open relationships

Don’t really refer

To dalliances

But more to subjects

That have been mentioned

Or possibly even discussed

Yet there is a growing list

Of headline grabbing ideas

That should remain hidden

Not to be given voice to

But how is one to know

If personal protocol

Has been breached

Unfortunately for the unwary

Only when a verboten thought

Has been expressed

Is it immediately clear that

Civility has left the room

Few examples:

“We can have the shower when the house is clean”

“Why do you blow the leaves and I get to pick them up”

“Is there a reason for 8 pie plates for 2 people”

“Shouldn’t the storage containers have lids”

“So should the grandchildren pick up toys before they go home”

“I could help cook”

To the unwary or insensitive

These topics

Will immediately bring forth

Objects in the spokesperson’s direction

A stare meant to freeze the antagonist for eternity

A silence that deafens any future coherent thought

Relationships are potentially an excellent

Assistance for a learning curve

Provided there is material to work with

FXC 11/21/19

Copyright

Outlet malls on a clear, cool Saturday afternoon

Are awash with feverish customers

Convinced it’s not too early for Christmas shopping

Nor too late for a bargain

Entering ‘Old Navy’ quickly ended the dream of a quick stop

Four check out lines wound around

Three aisles with each customer seemingly hell bent

On finishing their Christmas shopping TODAY

Immediately I began to plead my case

That there was not enough time to wait in the checkout line

Even promised a quick stop at Target to get whatever was needed

Or even more money was offered for an online purchase

But the prices were too low for my logic too overcome

The anticipated nightmare of an endless line

Sulking I began to analyze the composition of the line

Chatting Mother’s and daughter’s

Teenage girls with a grandmother in tow

Girlfriends of varied ages just flat out having a wonderful time

Even an occasional guy, who knows why

But then square in the middle of the line

An older fellow, okay what’s old?

His face spelt his age

He knew the agony he had fallen into

His place in line was dictated

By the one still shopping in the store

He was the PLACE holder

Yes he was in Purgatory

With really no heaven in sight

Glancing furtively

Hoping his pain would be relieved

By the return of his companion

She then would take his place

Allowing him to maybe rest

Twenty maybe twenty five minutes

Had past since I began my vigil of the line

When I learned the man’s name

“John, John’, a woman called to him

“Come on, come on they don’t have what I want

Let’s go”

John looked around for witnesses

To the injustice he had just endured

Waiting in line for nothing

Oh the life of a pawn

FXC 11/3/2019

Copyright

Last time I saw him

June 29 1969

His last day with us

His wife and seven children survived

Somewhat like being thrown to the wind

Always sensed the difficulty

Of having seven children

A single Mom at 54

But really still lingering

Thoughts and memories

Of a man never really knew

Faded pictures and worn mental images

Persist

Would periodically wonder if we were alike

Not a fair comparison

Our time together

Were his busiest days

And my growing away opportunities

Often times still grieve

All that I missed, he missed

Able to read his writings

Descriptions of travels the family took

Written somewhat like a lawyer which he was

Still though

Isolated moments

That I still vividly see him

Not on his last day

But on another happy day

In his royal blues

Colonel Thomas Joseph Cameron

Thank you Dad

I love you

FXC 11/2/2019

Copyright