Writings by Diane

A few weeks ago, I read about the passing of country legend, George Jones. I remembered the first time I completely misunderstood one of his greatest hits. The song I heard when I was a pre-teen was his classic He Stopped Loving Her Today.   I thought this may be different from the Country Western songs I was used to hearing. His voice was low and melodious, not a twang to be heard. Also, there were strong violins instead of brassy fiddles throughout the song. Country Westerns songs were not my favorite, but this one seemed different, so I gave it a listen. However, I was puzzled by the lyrics: why was the main character “all dressed up to go away”? Where was he going? I recalled in the beginning of the song, the man “went half crazy now and then” so I assumed he was going to a mental hospital. This notion was further validated with the lyrics “soon they will be carrying him away” –I figured he was in a straight jacket and had no way of leaving on his own.  I thought...

A couple of Sundays ago, as I held hands with my son during the prayer at church, I was made painfully aware how fast time goes by.  No longer was his hand tiny, like when I brought him home from the hospital. Nor was it miniature as when I walked him to his Kindergarten room.  Now, his hand was taking the form of a young man, strong and a bit larger than mine. He held my hand firmly, not grudgingly like a few years ago when he would die of embarrassment if he was caught holding his mother’s hand.  Memories flooded into my mind—the clay plate my husband made me with our son’s tiny hand prints embedded in it, the construction paper turkey my son made in 2 nd grade. Then a memory came back that was not so pleasant and whimsical, but downright terrifying.  The memory began when my son was 3 years old. We were living in an apartment complex in Las Vegas. I had the day off and was busy doing laundry in the community downstairs laundry room. My son was playing out...

For the first few years of my son starting school were very challenging to say the least. Due to his Asperger’s Syndrome, sitting quietly in a classroom was extremely difficult for him.  Many a time were my husband and/or myself called by the teacher with our son’s latest issues—not participating in class, or having a meltdown because things weren't going his way. After a while, my husband came up with a mantra for our son: Be good Listen to the teacher No fits No crying Do the activities Each morning before our son went on the school bus, he was told this mantra. Soon, he was able to repeat it. After a few months, the calls from the teacher stopped. We learned in the parent teacher conference that our son was performing much better.  We told her the mantra and by doing so, she was able to remind our son if he was going off-task. I was so impressed by our son’s transformation that I decided that everyone should have a mantra. It had to be easy to remembe...

The following is the Tall Tale speech I delivered and won at the Area level Toastsmasters International competition . Enjoy!! Jerome McCormick is an inventor who lives in a town a stone’s throw from Bliss ID. His latest invention is a powerful laser that will write messages on the moon. He will market it to companies that want to advertise on a global scale. When this invention was in prototype mode, he asked his friend, Billy Gleam, to help him test it. Billy promptly wrote, “Will you marry me, Denise?” on the surface of the moon. Denise, his girlfriend of, was so taken by this grand gesture that she immediately said yes.  After they married, this message is still on the moon, so each full moon, Billy shuts down the one main street to reenact his proposal to Denise. Jerome wishes he could be this grand with the love of his life, Elizabeth Sooner.  What’s not to love about Elizabeth? She is the kindest, gentlest person in the town. Even the animal kingdom knew this. Wh...

For a few years now, I have heard the Country Western song by Craig Morgan “International Harvester.” Being from the city (Santa Monica CA and Las Vegas NV)  I had no idea what an International Harvester was. In fact it took a few listening of the song to figure that it was about farm equipment.  The gist of it is it’s about a farmer who is unapologetic for slowing down traffic. To quote the singer: “cussing at me won’t save you no time, Hoss!”  Some of the lyrics sounded like foreign words to me (County 4-H, combine driver??) Later on, when I would hear the first notes of the song on the radio, I would switch to another channel, I couldn't relate to it at all. That is until I moved to the rural community of Middleton ID. There is an abundance of farm equipment on the spring time highways that you share the road. Crop sprayers, threshers and tractors abound during the morning commute. It was somewhat unsettling to me since I was only used to seeing cars, tr...

There I was sitting at the area speech competition for Toastmasters International , waiting for my turn. A few minutes ago, I had just received news that the Tall Tale speech that I had practiced at my club to rave reviews, was too long. At the practice run, I had clocked in at 6 minutes, 4 seconds, which was great when I thought the speech was supposed to be 5-7 minutes long. However, I was just informed by the competition official time keepers that the Tall Tale speech is 3-5 minutes.   Currently the speech I had prepared for was over by 1 minute 4 seconds, instant disqualification. There were two other gentlemen that were in the Tall Tale Competition as well.  The first man started pacing back and forth quietly lamenting that he thought he had 5-7 minutes as well to give his speech. The other man confidently announced, “That’s what I planned for!”  He reminded me of Sergeant Harvey Walden IV from Celebrity Fit Club .  This former Marine sergeant was alwa...

A few years ago I was on my way to work at a temporary labor and office agency.  I was walking down a flight of stairs and my mind was completely occupied. I was thinking about the day ahead of me—what positions were needing to be filled, and how many interviews would be generated from the want ads placed in that Sunday’s newspaper. I was going into work mode, complete with a serious façade. A man was walking up the stairs in the opposite direction. I barely noticed him, until he stopped on the stair and said to me with a bright smile “Good morning, I’m thinking this and I’m just going to say it -- you look nice today!” He said this without being salacious, and he seemed genuine.  I smiled in return and kept heading down the stairs. I looked at the dress I was wearing, a bold red striped dress, one of my favorites. I was touched that he made a sweet compliment. Throughout that whole day, no matter what pressures were at the office, I had an inward smile due to his kind w...