The Writers' Post Thursday Blog Hop #74 --Feathers ...

I am honored to hold a blog hop #74 for The Writers' Post. The prompt for this week is a picture prompt --feathers.

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There is this story about a boy who sometimes got angry and said whatever in his mind without thinking. All he wanted to do was to vent his anger. One by one people surrounding him was disappearing and by the time he realized it … He was left with no one. One day, he went to seek a wise elder in the woods for an advice. After attentively listening to his story, the wise elder decided to give him a bag full of feathers and advised him to go up in the mountains and let go of those feathers. Afterward, he was asked to pick the feathers back and repacked into the bag. If he could do it before sunset, all of his problem will be gone.

So the boy went and did what he was told. To his surprise, it was harder than he thought. He only managed to pick up 10% of the feathers that he let go. Most of the feathers flew everywhere and nowhere to be found. So, he went back to the elder and described what had happened. After being silent for a moment, the elder said, “Just like the feathers that you have let go can’t be retrieved; the words that you have said in anger can’t be retrieved back as well.”

A lot of time, we said things that we don’t mean when we are angry. Our only goal was to vent our anger and we don’t care about how others’ feel. By the time our anger is subsided, we have forgotten what we said. Sometimes we are lucky enough that our loved ones, and our friends would forgive us. But, sometimes things we said hurt others more than they could bear. Sometimes the words we say are like a sharp knife that leaves a deep wound and unfortunately even if we are forgiven, what we said are not forgotten.

Let’s take a moment in our journeys and think carefully before we say anything that could hurt others. There is this unwritten code in our household that goes like this, “When you got nothing better to say, please keep them to yourself!”

Now it is your turn to tell your 'feathers' story ...

Until next stop,
Journey of Life

How He Instilled the Fear in Me ...

Playa Punta Popy –Samana, Dominique Republic is the beach that will be engraved in my heart for many years to come. Why, you ask. It is a beautiful beach which doesn’t rival Magens Bay at San Thomas, but still—is unforgettable one

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“Do we really need to bring my iPhone5 with us?” I asked reluctantly as I really thought it was pointless.

“Yeah. Just in case …” My husband answered in his cheerful voice.

“But, we don’t have signal anyway.” Still being persistent—Me and persistent.

“That is okay just bring it, please.” He insisted.

The sun ray was beaming in the sky as we stood in line to board on the transfer boat. We carried some of the change clothes as well as the towels. .I stuffed in my blue wallet along with my iPhone in my beach bag. I didn’t carry much on that day, some cash, one credit card, my ID as well as cruise cards. As the security officer was done authenticating us with their systems, my husband took his card and say, “Let me carry my own card,” and I managed to slip the rest back into my wallet.

As soon as we arrived at the harbor, we were met by the people from the Minister of Tourism. “There is no public beach nearby that is decent,” said one of the guy, “but, you can grab a taxi and head to Playa Punta Popy.” He continued. As I asked my next question away, another set of family within the ear shot decided to join in the conversation. Once The head of that family finished asking his question, he turned to me and asked, “do you want to join us so we can share the cost?”
“Sure.” Without a doubt, I answered spontaneously—after all, they are from our cruise ship .

Turned out that the family is originated from Long Island and they are so amicable. Their girl and ours hit it off just like that. And us, the adults, have a lot of laugh. It took us about an hour from the harbor, Santa Bárbara de Samaná to reach Playa Punta Popy –Samana. as soon as we arrived, the girls plunged into the crystal clear water while my husband and I decided to stroll along the beach. Before I left, I wanted to bring my beach bag but then I decided against it. Instead, I was carrying my blue wallet in my hand and I stuffed in my iPhone inside the wallet.

I always enjoy time alone with my husband. And the best of all, I secretly cheered inside my heart as I would be his sole model of the day. Photos after photos and we kept on going. 

Along the road, my heart was uneasy. In fact, it was troubled for couple days and I told my husband that I was not sure why but I felt like something weird was going to happen. I worried about my mom. I wondered if she was okay. Last time, when I had this weird feeling, she was found unconscious in some foreign country.  Still, couldn’t shake the bad thought out of mind, I gestured my husband to go back, when he was wondering if we should continue walking or head back to where the girls and the family were.

As we walked back and somewhere along the path, I felt my hand was grabbed tightly. Feeling strange and thinking it was my husband, I turned around. Things happened so fast, and before I knew, my blue wallet that I had it in my right hand was snatched by this teenage boy. He ran to his accomplice, who was waiting in the motor cycle, and off they went. My husband ran after them, after I shouted, “Cruise cards!!!” Of course, it was way too late. The only regret I had was my brand new iPhone5 and my ID. There rests are merely unimportant … and more importantly we were untouched. However, down deep in my heart and little did I know that the teenage boy has left something behind... something that took me by surprise...

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As Julius Caesar once said,

 “No one is so brave that he is not disturbed by something unexpected.”

“Are you okay,” asked my husband.

“Yeah …”Still clasping my handbag very close to my body.

“Are you sure?” he insisted.

“Somewhat. I thought I was pretty brave, but somehow that experience, that teenage boy has instilled something in me—the fear.”

He hugged me and held my hands as we walked in to the restaurant, celebrating my birthday that was postponed from last year.

Until next time,

Journey of LIfe