500 words

Do you know what 500 words looks like, honestly? Without using the word count on your computer, can you tell me what it looks like?

No, me neither. I have been asked to write 500 words, and I thought that will be easy. It wasn’t! I got to 250, and thought ‘finished’ but I was only half way there. I still had another 250 words to pull out of my little brain, jumble them around, make them sound entertaining, interesting, and like they were mine to be the puppet master of. It was so hard. (91) and now I still have 404 left to write if I want to fill this blog up with 500 words…now I only have 387. And the more and, buts and becauses (is that really a word) I can put down, I have less of the interesting words to fill the page with.

The hardest part was, that I was writing about why my company should let me go on a  training course to improve my leadership skills, so that I could move up the career ladder. I want to be at the top of the ladder, then I can look at the world below me, at all the little ants scurrying around, chasing their tails, while I hang on for dear life, as the wind of bureaucracy batters me from left to right, and the trees of red tape try and tangle me up, and pull back down to the reality of life again.

What to do? Write 5 more words to (250)

In celebration of Mother’s

Today we are celebrating Mother’s Day. A day for us to say ‘thanks mum’ for being you, thanks for all the hard work and dedication you have shown us over the years. For nurturing us when we were babies, for the simple things like teaching us to tie our shoe laces, and showing us how to eat nicely at the dinner table. For allowing us some freedom to grow and expand, and become who we are today.

Some of us will be fortunate enough to have this thanks repeated back to us by our own children. And some will be thanked by children they have looked after and taken under their wing. And some are looking forward to a time when they will be able to smile on Mothers day, as they are included in this big day of giving thanks.

Each of us has a story to tell. A personal time of reflection of our own experiences. They may not all be rosy and some are certainly not ‘traditional’. But each one of us has a ‘birth’ mother, and if they are still here to share this day with us or not we can say thank you for giving life. And for allowing us to shape this world we live in – in some small way. We can be thankful, in our own way.