As We Travel into 2014…

Posted on 12/30/2013 by Wanda Paryla | 1 Comment

The end of 2013 is rushing in, where has the year gone; where have all of them gone? May you all be blessed in the coming year and throughout 2014.

With the coming of “another” year, I have spent some time reflecting on the many years that have passed. There are times when memories come and go; they are always there waiting for me to recall and I do wonder if the day will come when I will remember them at all?

Just an old woman now, once a young girl with roads to travel; songs to sing, just a child not knowing what life would bring; all rainbow skies and starry nights, times of youth a place where imagination blinds the truth.

Traveled many roads scattered with heartache, no songs to sing, voice choked back, no future seen, existence never knowing what life will bring.

Memories of dreams and hopes…

View original post 339 more words

We Are Still Human

Posted on 12/29/2013 by Wanda Paryla | 3 Comments

And so, I was sitting in the break room on Christmas Eve and it was fairly quiet in there. It was quiet at my job that day period. Phones rarely rang, and despite that everyone should’ve been jolly, everyone was walking around like zombies minus the moaning and groaning.

Everyone in the break room was eating alone at different tables, playing with their smart phones (myself included), ignoring everyone else. My associates all looked so lonely sitting there, scrolling through Facebook, Instagram and texting to people who weren’t texting back while we sat lonely, not daring to look up unless someone see how much we needed their company.

Well, not everyone was doing that, and those zombie-mood breakers raised my attention from my phone to them. I am nothing more than a people watcher. As a writer, it’s my job to put my life on hold to watch you live yours. Someone was talking. Yes, this young guy sat down in a booth with a girl. They were about the same age and seemed to be familiar with one another. There were other young women in the room, and I’m sure he was familiar with more than just her. Why’d he choose her? Maybe he likes her? Maybe their desks are positioned close together and so they chat a lot.

I contemplated as I watched everyone in that room. Then it hit me. Why he chose her and not any of the other girls. Girls I’ve seen him talk with before. Why her? Why now?

Ahh…She was the only one not scrolling through her phone when he entered the break room and scanned the area. Where is her phone anyway?

He sat down across from her and put his phone face down on the table.

Yes, we still enjoy each others company more than we enjoy those phones. We’re still human. Android does not run through the veins of everyone. Thank heaven.

What to Look For in a Small Press

Posted on 12/29/2013 by Wanda Paryla | Leave a comment

Throwback Thursday

Posted on 12/26/2013 by Wanda Paryla | Leave a comment

Yes, I love Bing!… These songs are classics for many of us. But, in truth, they just remind me so much of my childhood. I spent many years in rural Central Texas where snow rarely happened, and if it did sprinkle down, it usually didn’t last long and did not occur in December.

I was one of the lucky ones in my Texas hometown. I knew what a winter wonderland was actually like. And it often happened at the holiday season in the land where I was born which seemed a gazillion miles away from where I spent my adolescence.

Throwback Thursday

Posted on 12/19/2013 by Wanda Paryla | Leave a comment

1982 – Is that the year Hershey’s invented the big Kiss? I do not know. But I will admit that Hershey IS my favorite chocolate bar – American or otherwise.

Hershey’s is another company that has put out some of the best commercials over the years. Who can ever forget the tagline “Hershey’s – The great American chocolate bar.” Can those of you over 40 hear that tune in your head? It gave me a tingling feeling inside and it still does. It brings me back to my childhood imaginings of what America was. A warm and strong place where no one could touch me. Throw in a Coke and a Clydesdale and my world was all right; untouchable.

My mom was not too keen on me eating candies. But my dad on the other hand… 😉 Every time I was visiting with him in Chicago and he went grocery shopping on Sundays, he bought me a Hershey’s chocolate bar. Sometimes we went shopping together, sometimes he went alone, but I could always expect that bar of chocolate. I still eat Hershey’s today. I’ll never forget that memory and the connection I felt between us over a chocolate bar. I miss my dad…Happy holidays in the Summerlands.

Throwback Thursday

Posted on 12/12/2013 by Wanda Paryla | Leave a comment

And another for the season from around 1982. In my early life, as a horse lover, the Anheuser-Busch commercials brought goosebumps. Let’s face it, all their commercials are great!

Do I ever drink any Bud products, you ask? Why yes, yes of course. Did the commercials influence me in that choice? Maybe, maybe not. When I was an “underage” drinker (which I do not condone), I drank Miller Lite (we’re talking the ’80s here!). Now as an adult, I tend to drink Budweiser products. But still, maybe my choice is subliminally influenced by those old Clydesdale commercials.

Throwback Thursday

Posted on 12/05/2013 by Wanda Paryla | 2 Comments

Befitting to the season…

I think this one’s from Christmas 1980! I loved Coca-cola holiday commercials. I have to admit, they’ve made some of the best over the years. This one brings back so many memories for me of quiet country Christmases and my step-father, Louis, trying to convince me that cows talked on Christmas Eve night around midnight.

It was the first Christmas I spent in Texas. I was in a new home, a new school, and I was more than a bit shy. Homesick, not really. Shy, yes. I had more warmth and security in my home with my mom and step-father than I ever had anywhere else and this commercial brings me back home to the early 80s when there was no cares in the world for me. Or so I remember it.

Back in those days, before Pepsi started burning up the market, a Coca-cola meant a Saturday or a holiday, a dinner out, or a special treat at a friend’s house. It’s something my mother didn’t buy to keep at home, but I loved it none-the-less.

Wordless Wednesday

Promises Are Meant To Be Broken…

Posted on 12/01/2013 by Wanda Paryla | 4 Comments

PROMISES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN…

…So said a mother to her 13 year-old daughter.

Is that honestly what some people believe? I mean, really, really believe? Is that what I want that 13 year old to think? To believe?

In the aftermath of my deep Thanksgiving reflections and in the wake of the upcoming winter holidays… No. No it’s not what I want any child to think, because it’s wrong and negative thinking. And it is for her that I write this blog. For her and for kids everywhere that are let down, lied to in order to be pacified by their parents’ or guardians’ and others they look up to.

Let me scream it to the heavens…PROMISES ARE NOT MEANT TO BE BROKEN. And no one – except someone with ill and bad intentions, a liar – would ever make a promise with the intention of not keeping it.

Sure, we all make promises that we sometimes can’t follow through on because of some circumstance out of our control. Or, perhaps we might forget we made the promise if some time has passed. Regardless, no promise should ever be broken deliberately.

If one pledges to help a friend, or to always be there for that friend or relative…they should be come hell or high water. And if they can’t, and it’s one of those ill circumstance situations, I believe an apology or explanation is in order. In other words, if we make a promise and we cannot keep it, tell the person to whom we made the promise of our problem or the reason why we cannot, will not, or did not keep that promise. Just don’t blow them off and hope they’ll forgive you.

I am typing this because this recently happened to me. I felt I was lied to and let down. And it’s sad it was by that same person who said promises are meant to be broken. What a sad individual. The person didn’t bother to try to rectify the situation in any light at all. Just blew me off like I don’t mean anything, yet, now I’m expected to do favors. It’s sad. Very sad that that is the very same person who told this child that promises are meant to be broken. No…no they are not.

Hell has a special place for oath breakers and people who intentionally make promises they do not plan to keep.

So what do my blog readers think about this? Please chime in.

Throwback Thursday

Posted on 11/28/2013 by Wanda Paryla | Leave a comment

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!… Introducing “Throwback Thursday” here on my blog! Throwback Thursdays are a way for me to share a little more of myself with my blog readers on a more personal level. I hope you’ll not be shy; join me and share any stories you may have on the subjects I post.

I thought today was as good a day as any to introduce Throwback Thursday. Why? Because I am thankful for the memories. I am thankful for all I got to see and experience in my lifetime thus far and I am so looking forward to more. So here goes!

Well, it’s no secret I was born in 1969. I graduated high school in 1987, and I have two older siblings. My sister, who is about 10 years older than I, and my brother who is 4+ years older. Their tastes in music, movies, trends, clothing and food preferences did influence me to some extent, I know, as did Chicago. I am very much a child of the 70s & 80s, that’s for sure. But I also spent many years away from the big city, and away from my siblings, growing up in rural Texas. I’ve found that my parents’ and my step-father’s tastes in various things also play a part of who I am today. When I post a throwback from my life, there’s sure to be a memory connected.

Please feel free to leave comments on my posts and share your own stories as well.

So on each Throwback Thursday, I’ll be posting some old favorite of mine, or something that totally belongs to my adolescent years. The blogs will come from music, TV, movies, fashion, fads, food, drinks, and so forth. Hence, forthcoming are my memories.

Let’s start with something that many people remember, or have seen somewhere before…maybe on cable TV or on the Internet, or maybe like me, you spent time watching this show. Let’s face it, they can film as many re-creations of it as they like, but there will never…ever…ever be another Crockett & Tubbs as they were played by Don Johnson & Philip Michael Thomas on the hit show, Miami Vice (1984-1990). They were a big part of my teen years and I loved Don Johnson more than life itself. Me and a friend of mine had Miami Vice parties where we drank Boone’s Farm Tickle Pink and ate junk food while watching the show. Miami Vice and its cast are forever in my heart. Thanks for memories.

Find out more about Miami Vice here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_Vice