"The Ladder": Some Kind of Story, Part Five

She stood with two feet barely

Balancing on the knobby, uneven roots

Of the skyscraper of a maple in her backyard

Her eyes drew a line

From trunk to tip

Where green fades into blue

So many branches,

And she’d never been very good

At making decisions

He offered his hand to help her

Up to the thick, stable arm just above her fingertips

“I can do it myself,” she countered.

But he said, “Yes you can,

But you don’t need to.”

Some Kind of Story, Part Four

She remembered a time when all it took to make her swoon was an acoustic guitar and letting a boy teach her how to play the first few bars of "Smoke on the Water."

A time before drum sets and the boys that sat behind them.

A time when butterflies were triggered by rainy day love songs and that spunk and confidence that always seems to come with being a musician.

She remembered a time when unpredictable was exciting and returned affection was maybe too much to take.

But now she dreams of bare feet on hardwood floors and mortgage payments and disagreements over paint colors.

A life that, though imperfect, will be perfect for her.

And butterflies that never get old.

Some Kind of Story, Part Three

And though playing it safe was comfortable.

And easy.

Most of the time,

She still craved that sense of recklessness.

The unexpected, the spontaneous.

The untested waters.

And though new things made her a bit uneasy,

the uneasiness was not always a bad thing.

Some Kind of Story, Part Two

She'd always played it pretty safe.

She could be spontaneous about the little things.

The midnight food runs, the impulse buys, the making of friends and the trusting of those friends.

But love?

Love was not something she ever did without thinking.

In fact, she thought about it a lot.

And she wondered if maybe she did a little too much wondering and dreaming and writing.

And not enough leaping.

Some Kind of Story, Part One

She was never one to go for the lead singer.

She liked drummers.

Almost hidden behind shaggy hair and a stack of hi-hats.

Keeping the beat.

They seemed steady, but reckless at the same time.

And always so much about the music.

And not so much the spotlight.

No band is complete without one.

And neither was she.