“Borrow a day from your future self. What type of day are you going to have? For an extra challenge, repeat the task by borrowing a day from your past”.

On By dustpansallyLeave a comment

A day in the life, year 2031. A 50 year old with a 19 year old son.

It was about that time, I reached 2 milestones. I had lived half of a century, while my son became a legal adult.

Dear Diary,

Today began like so many, Wake up, take my morning pill with room temperature water, fight the urge to not shower, feel the absence of prompting my son to get ready for school. I knew I would miss his presence. I have missed him at every age of his life. The versions of him as he grew and developed. This crisis from the emptiness of silence, the question of who I am without my responsibility to my child???

I thought this would be easier because of how much solitude I evolved to exist with from having long distance friendships and very little people that enjoyed my companionship in the activities that I enjoyed.

I choose to run on an elliptical at the aquatic center before work. It helps clear my brain, to keep my brain focused on my new life. I work for the school district in a program that helps children that have adverse experiences to live longer and better.

My life continues to put the needs of my community in my forefront. I support my local community’s garden and I find ways to contribute to the local art scene, as well as helping remove barriers through “free community events.”

I wish that I had more life balance as a mother. I needed community and self-development, but did not have adequate support to do so. I think I would have been a better mother and person. That life was depressing and distracted me. I now cling to what I should have been.

Life is temporary, I do what I can to enjoy it and the contributions I am able to make.

#dailyprompt

If I could be someone (thing?) else for a day, I would be a fly on a wall of an early learning center that promotes socioemotional development and text rich dramatic play areas. I would love to see all the little people being scaffolded by the adults and the peers that have a little more skill than the other. I want to see the way they interact with open-end materials and the way informed adults extend learning by being present to the child as an individual.

On By dustpansallyLeave a comment
Daily writing prompt
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?
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Genesis

On By dustpansally

While working in a corporate craft store fifteen years ago, I realized the ethical dilemma of sourcing art materials from traditional stores. I had already spent most of my life without access to expendable income and working for a craft store did not help matters. The craft store I worked at was in the state of Montana, which has notoriously low minimum wage. I took this job to pay for a student loan that I was unable to make payments on because of graduating in 2008. For those that were not alive at that time, or those that need a reminder, the economy became garbage. I could not afford to shop at the store I worked for. While working shifts for unloading and unboxing new products, I saw that the majority, if not all products came from China. It got old looking at what was likely the result of poor working conditions and pay. It was then that I began dreaming the dream of creating products that would provide ethical options for artists or those that simply love working with their hands. In 2026 I am relieved to see secondhand art supplies and seemingly ethically made products. I was often the person that swept the store at the end of the night. I was always on the look out for a stray bead, a glimmer of hope during those low years of struggling to pay my bills. A dream formed not only for a world with better materials, but also a body of work on the life and times of craft store workers. It hadn’t fully materialized until now, so here we go.