A few months ago, I entered into an online writing competition sponsored by a group call NYC Midnight (https://www.nycmidnight.com). The challenge was to write 1,000 word short story in 48 hours. Guidelines given were that the genre of the story should be "Romance", the setting for the story "A cottage") and at some point in the story a "Whisk" should appear. I didn't win anything, but got some good feedback, both positive and constructive. ‘Til Death do us Part There is so much more to love than simple romance. John and Stuart show us what a lifetime of commitment means to true love. I returned from my walk at around three in the afternoon. The sun cut through the trees to give the cottage a surreal glow. The sound of Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” wafted through the windows and out into the surrounding forest. It was John’s favorite piece, and I was glad that I had bought it for him on one of our first Valentines Days together. These days, I w
Never take for granted that you are reading this. When Sam was 14 years old, he dropped out of school and went to work in the Homestead Steel Mill in Pittsburgh. During his time in the public school system he never learned how to read. He was considered “slow”, so they just kept shuffling him from grade-to-grade. During his 30 years as a laborer in the mill, reading wasn’t that important – he was able to get along by following verbal instructions and, if unexpectedly faced with a written document, he had his tricks: casually get a co-worker to comment on the document or, if it was urgent, call his wife at home and read it out to her letter by letter so that she could read it back to him. Sometimes he would use the excuse that he had left his eyeglasses at home. Much of his energy and innate creativity went into hiding from others the fact that he didn’t know how to read. Then, after more than 30 years of getting by, the mill shut down. Sam found himself with