{"id":132,"date":"2015-04-09T19:16:22","date_gmt":"2015-04-10T00:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/?p=132"},"modified":"2015-04-09T19:16:22","modified_gmt":"2015-04-10T00:16:22","slug":"redefining-normalcy-flash-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/redefining-normalcy-flash-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Redefining Normalcy: Creating a story of renewal"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all have moments in our lives that feel like no matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, the world seems to be working against us. We can face the\u00a0battles head on or spend all our efforts side-stepping each new parry. If we’re lucky, those moments are just that: moments. However, sometimes they stretch out, going on and on, with no end in sight.\u00a0An\u00a0end does eventually come, although sometimes we don’t realize it until we’re looking back, seeing just how far we’ve come, how much we’ve grown as we’ve fought to survive.<\/p>\n

This week, Charli Mills over at Carrot Ranch\u00a0Communications<\/a> has challenged writers to own\u00a0our battles and use them to inspire a story of renewal in exactly 99 words. My battle erupted\u00a0in the summer of 2001, when three family members passed away in June and July, a friend committed suicide, the towers fell, and a long-term relationship ended in a foreign country. Everything came crashing down and I struggled to find some sense of normalcy, so\u00a0I decided to fly home once\u00a0the airports reopened after September 11. I remember walking through the Dallas\/Fort Worth airport, my footsteps echoing in an unnatural\u00a0silence that threatened to choke me while I tried to ignore the automatic weapons slung over\u00a0the shoulders of an all-too-visible security force that seemed to outnumber travelers three to one. That day I was forced\u00a0to redefine normalcy.\"Airport\"<\/p>\n

It’s been nearly fifteen years, but that surreal silence still claws at my throat at times.<\/p>\n

My response to the renewal\u00a0writing challenge follows.<\/p>\n

Baggage Claim<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

She chewed the last ice cube, letting the crunching fill the bubble of silence segregating her from the homecomings. God, she hated airport arrivals. They were like expensive candies: decadent, savory, gluttonous. She swallowed the shards of ice, pushing them past her rising indigestion as a smooth voice announced the last arrival from the coast. She scanned the faces. His was not among them. She tossed her empty cup in the trashcan and headed for the exit. Neiman Marcus was still open. She\u2019d fill up his space with some new Oscar de la Rentas, Jimmy Choos, and indulgent\u00a0candies.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We all have moments in our lives that feel like no matter what we do, no matter how hard we try, the world seems to be working against us. We can face the\u00a0battles head on or spend all our efforts side-stepping each new parry. If we’re lucky, those moments are just that: moments. However, sometimes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Redefining Normalcy: Creating a story of renewal -- A response to @Charli_Mills #flashfiction #writing challenge","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[15,16,20],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-writing","tag-carrot-ranch","tag-flash-fiction","tag-writing-challenge"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4WVQN-28","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":138,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions\/138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cjaiferry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}