One done and one to go… Well, not really true for either part of that oft-heard phrase, but kind of true. We dropped off our oldest at his dorm this week. He starts his classes as a freshman tomorrow! A whole new world, literally, for him; and for us too, a new family structure to get used to with him out of the house now. So much changes even when one person is away in a family unit; and with the past year and half having been spent in close quarters for all activities thanks to the pandemic, changes like this are even more impactful.

As of now, it seems like we dropped him off at one of his scout weeklong camps; but I just talked to him about classes starting tomorrow and about the closing ceremonies of their fun-filled, super-hectic orientation week, and the truth sank in just a little deeper. Well, the saving grace for us – his campus is literally 2 1/2 hours away from home, so ….

But getting back to the ‘one done and one to go’ phrase, all the college-applications craziness finally came to a close with that last goodbye earlier this week before we headed back home; and headed back to where our younger one waited. She had not wanted to miss a day of school (cool!) so had opted to stay home. While she still has two more years for the college-craziness to set in, I am not sure how prepared I will be even with this experience I have now 🙂 Each child is different, and our parenting them therefore is different. So anyway, there is one more to go.

On the other hand, can we really say we are done? For I know my mom still parents me 🙂

Poetic Sundays: The Soledad Poetic Form

Today’s form is called the Soledad (which simply means solitude) not to be confused with a poem titled Soledad by Angela Manalang Gloria. I picked it for a couple of reasons. September 15th through October 15th is National Hispanic American Heritage Month; and second, having left our older one at college this past week, the feeling somehow seems like solitude (for us at home, even though there are three of us; and likely for him, even in the bustle of dormlife)

I loved this example sentence while looking up for the definition for soledad.

Al poeta le encantaba vivir en la soledad de la montaña. —- >The poet loved living in the solitude of the mountains.

The Soledad Poetic Form

The Soledad is a simple, straightforward poetic form. It has three 8-syllable lines with a rhyme scheme of aba.

So the Soledad form’s elements are that at its most basic, it is:

• stanzaic: a tercet at minimum (three lined poem); can have many more tercets
• syllabic: 8 syllables for each line
• rhymed: has a rhyme scheme of axa (additional tercets will have rhyme schemes of bxb , cxc, and so on)
• the etcs: has internal consonance and or assonance

So this is how it looks

xxxxxxxa
xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxa

My Example:

A first draft (I have so many of those now and I need to do a search and work on rewriting them at some point!) I did ok with the internal consonance in about half the lines, and ok with the assonance in a half of them as well; so guessing overall, I did OK with that rule!

One Done and One to Go
Off to whole new worlds he goes
Taking bits of our hearts with him
Figuratively speaking, of course!!

Whew, we think, “that’s one kiddo done,
Now onto our other sweetheart”
Then -“miss you,” texts the older one!

Aww! Done? How did we assume it?
Parenting is a life-long job
-a job we love to do (well, a bit:)!)
~vidya tiru (@ ladyinreadwrites)

References and h/t:

• WritersDigest

Recently

On the Homefront: One Done and One to Go

Move-in done!!

From L-R, top-bottom: all packed up and in the hall, loaded up in the van, let the bedding stay in its box!; almost there – at the exit, checked in and heading to the dorm building, initial setup done – and took us way less than expected (now what do we do?); exploring and looking at the 100+ year old CalPoly P; musical entertainment at the parents event, moon over CalPoly as we head back home.

On My Blog

So here are the posts since (and including) my last scribblings….

• And Then There Were None, Or Ten?
• Egg Marks the Spot : Blog Tour and Book Review
• Sunday Scribblings #76: Should Have Been Four More Than This

Upcoming

On My Blog and Home Front

Need to work on getting used to remembering that looking to my right towards the dining room table will no longer mean looking at my son — he is now away at college after all! While I have told my younger one to make that spot her new study spot, she prefers her room.

Need to work on clearing up our backyard. The intense heat of the past couple of weeks has dried up some of the plants, which are nearing the end of the season anyways. Though the tomatoes did yield some fruit, they almost seem like the proverbial “$50 tomatoes” aka the one where we spend close to that $amount for that one tomato from our own garden 🙂

Need to start planning my Navratri golu decor and theme. Granted, this year’s celebrations are bound to be subdued still with the delta wave and everyone still cautious (rightly so). But traditions are important and they keep us balanced, grounded, and moving forward, all at the same time! So here is to wonderful, cherished traditions!

As for the blog, I hope to post long overdue reviews (maybe will try to do mini-reviews) and at least one other post.

This Week’s Celebrations

Literary Birthdays and Celebrations

• Literary birthdays this week include: George R.R. Martin, Jude Deveraux, and Upton Sinclair on the 20th of September; H.G. Wells. Leonard Cohen, and Stephen King on the 21st; F. Scott Fitzgerald on the 24th; Shel Silverstein, William Faulkner, Luanne Rice, and Kristin Hannah on Sept 25th; T.S. Eliot and Mark Haddon on 26th
• September 22nd is Hobbit Day as well as Dear Diary Day
• The 24th of September happens to be National Punctuation Day
• 25th of sept happens to be Math Storytelling Day, and National Comic Book Day

Foodie Celebrations

• This week begins with National Fried Rice Day, National Punch Day, and National String Cheese Day on the 20th of September
• September 21st is National Chai Day with National Pecan Cookie Day on the side! Perfect, tea time with cookies1
• The 22nd of September happens to be National Ice Cream Cone Day as well as National White Chocolate Day.. sweet!
• While the 23rd of Sept is National Snack Stick Day
• Sept 24th is National Cherries Jubilee Day
• Followed by National Quesadilla Day (Dia de la Quesadilla) on the 25th of September
• End this week with National Dumpling Day and National Pancake Day on September 26th

Other Celebrations

• 20th: National Care for Kids Day *
• 21st which is the Third Tuesday in September is National IT Professionals Day
• Sept 22nd happens to be Elephant Appreciation Day, National Girls’ Night
• 25th National Daughter’s Day, National One-Hit Wonder Day, National Open the Magic Day *
• Last Saturday in Sept which is 25th is Save Your Photos Day and National Public Lands Day
• Sept 26th is National Johnny Appleseed Day

Related Books and Reads

Book suggestions and more related to various aspects of today’s blog

• Tall for Johnny Appleseed Day.
• Be a Super Awesome Photographer for Save Your Photos Day
• E is for Elephants – Facts, Stories, and Reads

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Wrapping up my Sunday Scribblings

So dear reader, this was it for this post. As always, appreciate and totally welcome your thoughts, comments, and suggestions on these scribblings on Sunday! And which of these days in this wonderful week do you plan to celebrate? And what about you, dear reader – what kind of poetry would you write in solitude? Or about it? 

Linking this to the Sunday Post over at the Caffeinated Reviewer and the Sunday Salon