SELF-PORTRAIT

My given name, assigned to me by my father, my hero, I prefer to keep. Anything else, my life’s purpose it would defeat. He gave me life. He shaped my life. He taught me that, in my own hands, I held the future.

The rooster’s crow, the birds singing their joys of a new day, and the sun breaking the darkness is my favorite time. No special thoughts, but certainly a cup of coffee to warm the insides as a smile to the new-day-dawning warms the outside.

Everyone and everything in life follows second in importance to the four extensions of myself; my daughter and her three children. If ever taken away, even for a year, it would make living a burden.

On my daughter’s day of birth, she became my best friend. The cries she made were pulled from my heart, instantly easing the pain of the loss of her brother. We did, and still do, much together.

The many moods of black adorn my closet and rock-and-roll music lifts my spirits and makes me dance. Fresh-air fun, a fantasy world of literature and watching the movie "Grease" are among my joys in my life.

When I look into the mirror I see a reflection that is growing older, closer to the image of the woman who gave me birth, and it scares me. I don’t want to grow old. Never again do I want to carry the weight of two; like I did for half of my years. So, I use the creams that promise youth, drink the liquids that promise health, and hope that they are not promoting fiction. 

My name appears on a business card, telling a small part of the world that I am a successful sales person in the trucking industry. Someday it will appear on the jacket of a novel, letting the whole world know that I took the time to write down my thoughts for others to enjoy.

L. M. Reynolds