Krista

sigh... made me reread this discussion when I saw that it popped back up. I can't believe I have Twilight on there... lol. I'm glad my tastes have changed. The only reason I would want to write in that universe is to fix 90% of it. Now, I'd love to do a saucy gay Bridgerton series... so, my tastes haven't improved... unless the book series, which is in my Amazon cart is better.

Thank you everyone for your kind words about my little poem. I am not a poetry person at all. I do find myself writing for these poetry themes every now and then, but I have really only basic knowledge of the writing of them. When this theme was announced, she came back to my thoughts and I wrote it quickly, then I didn't look at it for a couple of days. I decided to post it, because at the time there weren't a lot of poems linked, but after I saw a lot more coming in I almost chickened out and asked for it to be removed. In the end I decided to keep it listed for the anthology. The comments here were nice, I haven't responded to them until now, because I honestly didn't know how to. She was important to me and I think of her often still. Posting was bittersweet for me, y'all uplifted me, the entire process, bringing her back the way that it did, that may have been too soon. Regardless, I am thankful and blessed you took the time to read my poem and review/comment.

I'm a canner, I garden, pickle, can, etc. So I've looked into spoiling vs. canning, vs. store bought canned goods with preservatives. It is a bit of an eyeopener when you really look into what you should look for, smell for, and even taste for when determining what is spoiled and what isn't. I do tend to toss canned goods that are over two years old, even if the seal is still firm. Nothing I've canned the past couple of years have ever made it past the first year and a half though, usually by the time I have enough garden stuff ready to can... I'm nearly empty of last year's stuff anyway. I am far more worried about vegetables, lettuce, and fruits. Especially in salad assortments, and that's within the sale by dates. Stuff like sour cream and mayonnaise makes me wrinkle my nose... but I still give it a few taste tests to make sure. If it is a food I don't like at all and won't eat it, if I see it expired I do toss it. I don't trust the husband and the brats to not food poison themselves. I do not refreeze leftovers, I know a lot of people that do, but I just think when something is heated/cooked, and frozen, then thawed and re-heated it loses a lot of flavor and texture. It is more of a.. space issue in my freezer, and the fact that my family just won't eat it due to the change in texture/taste. It is wasted effort for no rewarding outcome. I am also really considering dehydrators and freeze drying, although that can be expensive, I think it pays for itself in the long run. There's a lot of waste with gardening and if I had access to both, there would be a lot less waste. And freeze dried candies are damn good and lets be honest, that's the real reason I want one...

You were a Gift You came into my life like the new of Spring, Energy in endless tapping toes on hardwood. Easy to love from the start, all legs and chocolate brown eyes. Meanness that tried my patience, and goofiness that got you out of everything. You were a gift I didn’t know I needed. Summer found you grown, shining in the sun, a smile on your face. Playful still, your youthful spirit still holding you barely to the ground. You gave away your joy so free, and peace at

Written for the 2024 Poetry Anthology - Seasons

Thank you for reading! And thank you for sharing a little about yourself as well. I thought about the friend groups a lot. It is pretty rare, even in small towns for best friends to remain that way. But, I mirrored it with my own life. The first 10ish years, I've been able to cultivate and keep those relationships. Kids, marriages, and jobs that takes us farther apart took some of my closer friends away from me. It is a natural drifting, the pandemic didn't help. I still have 4 really close friends from high school. I think Jackson would easily retain Toby and Derek... and by extension Lily if Derek and her were to stay married. That's me projecting where I wanted to go though, but since it was a shorter time period.. where they likely were still being invited to things, going to one another's weddings, etc... they maintained relationships. The big hurdles of time and personal goals taking them away wouldn't be happening as fast, but may beginning to start as more of them graduate and start careers and families. Good time to finish the story though.. as drifting friends would not be a fun write for me. If I went that way, some people can remain friends easily, it isn't out of the norm either... but basing it on my experience, I would likely mirror it. Family just becomes more important and easily accessible as time passes... if there are connections there to begin with.

I forgot who Matt was there for a minute... lol. Woops. I was like:

As someone who is currently wondering what the hell she is going to write now... this topic has been enlightening. And, made it a bit daunting for me to picture ever doing.

Yeah, he was being a jerk. Although, the school has never helped Jackson, it isn't a school sanctioned sport. Probably a good thing as far as Jackson is concerned, because then they could have been more disciplinary with it whenever he did act up. This is the first time I think Jackson went well out of his way to be snarky since the beginning chapter. It was with Welker again and they have had 4 years of butting heads. Doesn't excuse the behavior any. and yeah, both of them were doing Prom preparations and it is the weekend. So unless Jackson told him at Prom, then I don't think Welker should have expected to know until later on... lol. I was a bit back and forth with how this scene was going to go, it may have been a bit overkill in hindsight, but I've always wanted Jackson to keep parts of what made him difficult to like. I don't think people change entirely, especially in the span of a few months. I see it in writing a lot, complete turns in characters, and I just find it awkward... I think these growing pain scenes are awkward, but they're more realistic.

This was one of the more difficult chapters for me to write. I think I DNF'd it twice. Thank you for reminding me by leaving a comment that it is also one of my favorite chapters in the whole of the story as well. I think this one solidified the rest of the story, coming out of the high of Prom, taking risks, learning more about one another. I liked Luke in this chapter a lot.

Yes, I remember people asking me if this was a Gay story, or a character who may question his sexuality and then eventually come to the conclusion that he was straight or bi-curious, but not curious enough to do anything. Either way, I feel you're far enough into the story to know where Jackson falls with that. I'm glad you didn't look at the ending, as I feel the ending is rather straight forward... I struggle with endings, but people have said that I've gotten a lot better at ending stories, so maybe with this one it's all a go. I also don't blame anyone for waiting for a story to be marked completed. Myself, I have put my readers through it with breaks, and long times between chapters. I hit a few bouts of writer's block and lacking motivation. Full time mom, full time job, full time everything else limits my time as well. It took me a really long time to get this out... admittedly, it is longer than some of the longer novels in print at the moment... and professionals struggle with that wordcount, I doubt it is ever as long as it has taken me to finish this story, but I'm far from a professional.. haha. I am glad you stuck with it, I have got notifications of your progress. I wish I could remember all parts of this story so that I know where you're at and what you're about to wade into. I also agree about films and books that may go 70% in one direction, and are advertised as an LGBT Drama and they don't go the rest of the way. Or, what is there is in a span of two or so scenes. It's okay if done well, but most usually it isn't. There's one director that likes to do that and I have fallen for it a few times.

I won't talk you down from that curiosity. Although, I think at this stage of the story most people were wondering where the hell I was going with it. lol. I remember a few PM's asking me when I was going to make it a "gay story..." Seven chapters in though.. yikes, the chapter numbers left may seem a bit daunting as there are so many. Unlike the ones that read this as I was posting it, you don't have to wait... the chapters are there waiting for better or worse. If you do end up taking a sneaky look at the end, I hope you come back for the journey of it too. If not, at least we had chapter 7 together.. haha.

I admit I went a little overboard in these "prom" chapters. But I hadn't written one yet, and this was the best opportunity to do so. Maybe it shouldn't have taken 2 - 3 chapters for it to all wrap up, but... I'm not ashamed that it did, lol. And yeah, Cindy overstepped. Olivia's parents either didn't know, or allowed their daughter to go out in that dress. Although, Luke was also surprised at how much she had it altered. Either way, the school was okay with it and she was there acting as a staff-chaperone, so she needed to keep those opinions at the door... but of course she didn't. I went to four proms... the first one was scary as I was the youngest one there by far. The second one was boring, as I didn't have anyone but my date and his friends to really talk to, aside from older teammates from the various sports I played.. lol. My Junior and Senior proms were a lot more fun.

Yeah, Tony has a small and selective team to work with. I worried that Jackson may have improved too much, but since I already depicted him doing well last Districts with just 'raw' talent, I thought the new training from Emily/Tony should have boosted. With the better mindset he had anyway, I could see that drastic of a change making him regress a bit, but I would have had to make Jackson a bit... awful for him to regress, I think. Yeah, I don't think Tony would have held anything back, as he has nothing to lose with Cindy. She isn't a sponsoring parent, she doesn't have a kid on the team. And, he'd feel protective of Jackson as a swimmer that needs a cool and collected head. So, yeah, Cindy would have definitely met her match with him, possibly.