About This Story...

I subscribe to a weekly newsletter from a website called Writer's Weekly. They hold a quarterly 24 Hour Short Story Contest. It costs $5 to enter, but the winning prize is $300, so I enter it sometimes for fun. They basically provide you with a topic, and you have 24 hours to write your story. Well, the contest was yesterday, and the following story is my submission.

I'm kind of proud of it, actually. It's an amalgamation of sorts for me. There are several little elements woven through it that are personal to me. I already posted the story, so it would probably make more sense for you to read it first, then come back to this paragraph. Apologies for my poor planning.

My grandfather's name was Arthur, as is my middle name after him. Most folks called him "Art," but we all called him "Gramps." I have taken a liking to saying, "My middle name is 'ART'," because of that. Anyway, he died in December of 1987 when I was 19. The last time I saw him was at Thanksgiving at my Uncle Larry and Aunt De's (Diana) house that year. He was not an artist, but a mechanic. The man could fix anything, and we all had running cars to prove it. I also named the main character after my cousin (it's good to be the favorite) Jennifer. Whenever I think of Gramps, I think of that last Thanksgiving. Making his final painting about playing hide and seek with one of us kids is a tribute to that.

I also tucked part of a lyric of a Dave Matthews song in there. Jessica, you may be the only one who finds it.

And finally, the title, "Snowflakes Without Agenda" was a phrase I came up with several years ago when my mom and I took a trip antiquing around the Murphys, Jackson, Yosemite area of California. On the way home, it began to snow to biggest snowflakes I've ever seen. They were easily silver-dollar sized and falling straight down because there was no wind [without agenda]. I liked the phrase so much, I've been dying to use it. This was my chance. I'm sure you'll see it resurface in the future.

Anyway, the trees in front of our house are beginning to drop leaves faster than we can pick them up. Ordinarily, this is a chore of fall that I dread, but this year, it has me extremely nostalgic for the past and hopeful for the future as my own family is starting to pass through its own set of seasons.

I would like to take this opportunity to let you know how much I apppreciate each and every one of you. If you are on the mailing list for my blog, you are one of the people I truly cherish and appreciate. Knowing you is something I treasure and you have enriched my life in ways you may never fully know. I hold these thoughts sacred.

Thank you for being you and sharing part of your life with me.

C