"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." Anais Nin
Sketches
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I'm trying to get back in the habit of writing every day. Lately, I've been working on character sketches. Some of those will find their way here, in the form of individual comments to this post.
She’ll one day be remembered as a “Dorcas,” that exceptional woman of Biblical fame whose service to her community was so prodigious, so selfless, that her death sent her neighbors into a tailspin. Now, she’s known more as a “Martha,” another woman of the New Testament who also served, nearly to the point of collapse; who never quite knew how to relax and sit at the feet of Christ. That’s the way evaluations work. Harsher, more judgmental in the present; softer, kinder in retrospect.
She’s busy, with all her serving and doing for others, yet she somehow seems to fit it all in - or most of it, anyway. Confident in her strengths and abilities, she’s best given a task and then left to do it. She knows what she’s doing - you’ll only slow her down.
In the middle years of her life, she knows exactly where she fits in the grand scheme of things. Her roles as wife, mother, sister, daughter, Christian, neighbor - they’re all carefully articulated in her mind - the do’s and don’ts, the expectations each interweaving to create perfect harmony of being. They give her certainty and security in an uncertain and insecure world.
Her children are grown now, and she’s as comfortable in their going as she was in their arrival -each phase in life recognized, appreciated, bid farewell. There’s an internal comfort about her, too. She’s okay with who she is, how she looks, what she’s about.
A woman of great passion, she throws herself wholly into everything she takes on. When she loves, she loves completely; when she hurts, she hurts deeply. But she won’t carry a grudge, and once she’s forgiven, there is nothing left to remember.
Asked about herself, she self-deprecates, dismissing her talents and abilities as “nothing special,” her service as something “anybody would do.” Yet that’s not true. What she does and what she is capable of doing are unique, not so much in and of themselves, but in what she brings to them.
Need a loaf of bread? She’ll bake you two. Kids need to be picked up from school? She’ll get them, bring them home, help them get their homework done and have dinner ready for you by the time you get there. Need a friend? She’ll stick by you, no matter what, for the long haul. She’ll pray for you before you realize you need it, celebrate your victories and take on your enemies as though they were her own.
And in the end, you begin to realize that she is not so much Dorcas-like, or Martha-like, as she is Christ-like.
Wow, I am always amazed at you writing skill. I wish I had the eloquence that you possess in writing.
I can picture the lady in my mind. My only critisizm, She is too perfect with too little flaws. When I see these type of ladies in real life, I immediately think "what are those skeletons in her closet?" I know she has them. We all have faults, and I like to see those in character sketches. They bring a character to life, at least for me.
Point taken, Dren. I think I was trying to be cautious because this is a real person, and I don't want to violate privacy or hurt feelings. Maybe I should just post the sketches of ficticious people from now on! :)
Hector likes being married. He must. He’s done it nine times. And even now, nearing the end of his seventh decade and just weeks after his most recent trip down the aisle, he likes to “keep a conversation going” on the side, just in case.
Be careful what you say around him. Any ethnic reference that even hints at derogatory will earn you a barrage of profanity and insults in both English and Spanish, unless, of course, it’s about a group different than his own. All the others are fair game, particularly for him, and the slurs would make Archie Bunker cringe.
Small and wizened, he’s the kind of guy my daddy would call “a real operator,” always trying to make a deal, looking for a quick buck. Hang around long enough and you start to realize that you’re only there because you’re useful to him. He’ll ask you to do him a favor, “as a friend,” and before long, you find out you’ve been working to make him money in some deal that’s not necessarily legal.
We’ve known each other for years, Hector and I. He’s drawn to my family, though he says he doesn’t like kids - doesn’t know how to behave around them. “No, Hector, you can’t talk about your sexcapades in front of the girls,” we remind him.
I’m probably more blunt with him that with anyone else I know, because he doesn’t seem to respond to anything else. “What do you think of my new girlfriend?” he’ll ask. “I think you’re using her and it’s pathetic,” I reply, honestly. I’d likely couch things more gently with other people. That would be lost on Hector. But he keeps coming back - dropping in on me at work, or calling out of the blue.
I think he wants to have real relationships, but just doesn’t have the tools, never quite learned how. So he flits around the periphery of ours, enjoying a sense of family he was never able to cultivate with his own kin, running away for a while when it gets too familial.
Wow, you did a great job. Suprisingly, I like Hector. I see a smooth, hispanic, likable, old man. A man who is probably secretly sad on the inside. I really enjoyed the narrator's opinion of the man, it expanded the world in which Hector lives and gives it depth.
Comments
She’s busy, with all her serving and doing for others, yet she somehow seems to fit it all in - or most of it, anyway. Confident in her strengths and abilities, she’s best given a task and then left to do it. She knows what she’s doing - you’ll only slow her down.
In the middle years of her life, she knows exactly where she fits in the grand scheme of things. Her roles as wife, mother, sister, daughter, Christian, neighbor - they’re all carefully articulated in her mind - the do’s and don’ts, the expectations each interweaving to create perfect harmony of being. They give her certainty and security in an uncertain and insecure world.
Her children are grown now, and she’s as comfortable in their going as she was in their arrival -each phase in life recognized, appreciated, bid farewell. There’s an internal comfort about her, too. She’s okay with who she is, how she looks, what she’s about.
A woman of great passion, she throws herself wholly into everything she takes on. When she loves, she loves completely; when she hurts, she hurts deeply. But she won’t carry a grudge, and once she’s forgiven, there is nothing left to remember.
Asked about herself, she self-deprecates, dismissing her talents and abilities as “nothing special,” her service as something “anybody would do.” Yet that’s not true. What she does and what she is capable of doing are unique, not so much in and of themselves, but in what she brings to them.
Need a loaf of bread? She’ll bake you two. Kids need to be picked up from school? She’ll get them, bring them home, help them get their homework done and have dinner ready for you by the time you get there. Need a friend? She’ll stick by you, no matter what, for the long haul. She’ll pray for you before you realize you need it, celebrate your victories and take on your enemies as though they were her own.
And in the end, you begin to realize that she is not so much Dorcas-like, or Martha-like, as she is Christ-like.
I can picture the lady in my mind. My only critisizm, She is too perfect with too little flaws. When I see these type of ladies in real life, I immediately think "what are those skeletons in her closet?" I know she has them. We all have faults, and I like to see those in character sketches. They bring a character to life, at least for me.
Also, can I have your talent...please?
Be careful what you say around him. Any ethnic reference that even hints at derogatory will earn you a barrage of profanity and insults in both English and Spanish, unless, of course, it’s about a group different than his own. All the others are fair game, particularly for him, and the slurs would make Archie Bunker cringe.
Small and wizened, he’s the kind of guy my daddy would call “a real operator,” always trying to make a deal, looking for a quick buck. Hang around long enough and you start to realize that you’re only there because you’re useful to him. He’ll ask you to do him a favor, “as a friend,” and before long, you find out you’ve been working to make him money in some deal that’s not necessarily legal.
We’ve known each other for years, Hector and I. He’s drawn to my family, though he says he doesn’t like kids - doesn’t know how to behave around them. “No, Hector, you can’t talk about your sexcapades in front of the girls,” we remind him.
I’m probably more blunt with him that with anyone else I know, because he doesn’t seem to respond to anything else. “What do you think of my new girlfriend?” he’ll ask. “I think you’re using her and it’s pathetic,” I reply, honestly. I’d likely couch things more gently with other people. That would be lost on Hector.
But he keeps coming back - dropping in on me at work, or calling out of the blue.
I think he wants to have real relationships, but just doesn’t have the tools, never quite learned how. So he flits around the periphery of ours, enjoying a sense of family he was never able to cultivate with his own kin, running away for a while when it gets too familial.
Keep these sketches coming. They are good.