There Must Be a Better Word for That

25 Oct

Today I spent the whole day dragged down and wrapped up in words like

governance
guidelines
script
apology
inconvenience
infection
deadline
remorse
exit
notify
meh
necessary
error message
 

My day was shaping up into a depressive haiku.

squirrelAbout 5:15, I gave up (or as I call it “threw my f*ck it flag) and left the office.  Walking back to my car, I passed a patch of tea olives and the scent tapped me on the shoulder. “Pardon me?  Miss?  The world is lovely and it’s right here.”  

A new word popped into my head:  waft.

I smiled…just a little.  The tense muscles around my face rearranged themselves gladly.  More words:  smirk, moue, whimsy.  

The sun pattering down through the oak canopy warmed my cheeks and I thought of another word:  dappled.  

A sleek squirrel scampered across the pebbled path.  We locked eyes–gazed–for a fleeting moment, then he was off.

I stopped there on the path and filled my mind with better words…

aroma
dawdle
meander
respite
breeze
soar
lilt
lark
arc
swoop
horizon
rooted
heady
 

Then I continued on my way.  Rejuvenated.  Replenished.  Refreshed.  Hopeful.  Satisfied.  

What’s the most beautiful word you know?  The most peaceful?  The word that makes you stand still?  The one that gets you going?

About these ads

14 Responses to “There Must Be a Better Word for That”

  1. Nita B October 25, 2013 at 7:43 am #

    Trifle, because no matter what I am going through, screaming baby, life, the list is endless. I find myself saying “drama today, trifle tomorrow”, immediately perks me up and gives me a feeling similar to the one you get when the house is quiet and it’s just you and a cocktail!

    • Baddest Mother Ever October 25, 2013 at 10:09 am #

      LOVE THIS. I have already repeated it to myself several times this morning!

  2. Lisa in Athens October 25, 2013 at 9:10 am #

    “Sanctuary” which, by some definitions, means a place of quiet and peace. I think it’s more a place or state of mind where a person can center themselves again, whether it be their home, a park, or a favorite place to visit.

    • Baddest Mother Ever October 25, 2013 at 10:08 am #

      That’s a great word! I like it in its sense of “protection,” like when a person could flee to a church and be protected from the law.

  3. christymimi October 25, 2013 at 9:23 am #

    That’s the power of nature. Fills your senses with hope and renewal and refreshes better than a Diet Coke. Well, okay, let’s not get crazy here.

    • Baddest Mother Ever October 25, 2013 at 10:08 am #

      yeah, you had me until you started babbling blashphemy!

  4. Michelle October 25, 2013 at 10:18 am #

    Onomatopoeia – until today I’m not sure I knew what it meant ( I did look it up just now to make sure it wasn’t something embarrassing). And now I like it even more. BAM! There I said it. ;-0

    I just like the way it sounds and I just can’t say it without a smile!

    • Chris October 25, 2013 at 11:08 am #

      children

      • Baddest Mother Ever October 25, 2013 at 11:55 am #

        Oh, Chris. I don’t have any words.

    • Baddest Mother Ever October 25, 2013 at 11:54 am #

      You knew how to SPELL that and didn’t know what it meant???? Girl. Buzzzz buzzz sizzle ping!

  5. Kelley October 25, 2013 at 11:53 am #

    Nap.

    • Baddest Mother Ever October 25, 2013 at 11:55 am #

      If you’d brush your hair….

  6. mariner2mother October 26, 2013 at 9:35 am #

    The most beautiful word I know is compassion. Most peaceful is acceptance. Two of my most fun words to say are French. They are pamplemousse (I hope I spelled it right, as it’s been a while), and grenouille. They mean grapefruit and frog.

    • Baddest Mother Ever October 26, 2013 at 10:20 pm #

      I love the German word for pineapple–ananas–simply because it stuck in my head from a phrase book then I actually got to use it at a market in Munich!

      Reply

Leave a Reply to Kelley Cancel reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Google+ photo

You are commenting using your Google+ account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,640 other followers

Powered by WordPress.com
%d bloggers like this: