Promises, Promises

April 19, 2012

This week at Mama Kat’s Writing Workshop, one of the prompts was: write about a promise. For more great stuff, head on over to MamaKat today!

The Promise

She grips my shoulders as they shake, delicate as Colorado aspens.
“He wasn’t good enough for you anyways,” she says ruthlessly, wiping my tears with her black hair.
“Just you and me, Little Duck. You and me against the world.”  I hate that nickname but I know she means no harm.

“You remember.” She turns me toward her with hard hazel eyes.

“I will love you. The underbelly, the bad stuff, the cracks you’re ashamed of.”

Nobody loves broken girls and suddenly I’m furious. I blurt, “Bullshit. Nobody loves the underbelly.”
She laughs and chucks me on the cheek. “Little Duck. Promise. I will love you anyways.”
People and the things they promise you in the Spring. They’ll leave you and your heart, bloody on the gravel. In your gut you know it’s your own fault.
But that’s the least of your worries.

{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }

Sherri April 19, 2012 at 10:57 am

Very poignant.

Reply

CJ April 19, 2012 at 12:37 pm

Nobody can love the underbelly. Nobody but a mother.

Reply

jacquie April 19, 2012 at 6:50 pm

sorry but i just have to respond to CJ’s comment. (and feel free to not post it)

but it’s simply not true …. mothers do not necessarily love underbellies. even as much as one wants – no make that needs – her to. it simply just not always the case. though if you are really really lucky and get your self to take the big risk of exposing just a little piece of your underbelly, you might just happen to run across someone later in life who will perhaps not “love” but be concerned/careing about you even then.

Reply

TKW April 21, 2012 at 7:25 pm

jacquie,
We have one of those, too.

Reply

TKW April 21, 2012 at 8:02 pm

‘Tis true–as we know well in our family–some underbellies are just too hard to bear.

Reply

Elizabeth April 19, 2012 at 6:51 pm

::sighs:: That is all.

Reply

phoo-d April 19, 2012 at 7:14 pm

My mother always says that your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness. The soft underbelly is what makes you so strong.

Reply

TKW April 21, 2012 at 1:11 pm

How do you know what’s in my heart? It’s uncanny.

Reply

Privilege of Parenting April 19, 2012 at 9:01 pm

“Eat it,” said my so-called friend, drunk and mean and jealous. I’d caught a fish, big and scary with razor teeth. I let it go and it floated upside down for a confused moment, its soft white belly against the cold green water. Then it turned, green and gold and snaked back into the reeds. I loved that underbelly.

Reply

TKW April 21, 2012 at 1:12 pm

Bruuuuuuuuuce,

I want more of that story.

Reply

Sarah April 20, 2012 at 5:24 am

No, baby, it’s not always your fault. And as far as the under belly goes…it’s always loved, if even from afar. Sometimes people just can’t give all that they really want to give. Maybe this applies here. Maybe.

Xo

Reply

TKW April 21, 2012 at 7:42 pm

No, the underbelly is shameful, and believing that anyone loves that is a lie. People will try for a while and do their damndest to understand, but in the end, your underbelly belongs to you–your own broken territory. Underbellies are too full and too ugly to share.

Reply

Jamie April 20, 2012 at 1:06 pm

Wonderful written. I could see and feel it.

Reply

May April 21, 2012 at 7:30 am

Wow, this piece is so painful and real. The rawness is not hidden behind something more tolerable. Based on the comments I think that honesty really elicited some unguarded responses from people.

Reply

TKW April 21, 2012 at 1:15 pm

May,

Broken hearts seem to bring that out in people. Thank you for coming by.

Reply

Jennifer April 21, 2012 at 5:30 pm

It’s not your fault.

Reply

Tiffany April 23, 2012 at 2:00 pm

Why is the bad stuff so much easier to believe?

Reply

Cassandra Tannenbaum July 7, 2012 at 8:07 pm

I’d really enjoy it if you could deliver the web link for a Feed, so I can receive any improvements direct to my emails, I know a web site which i also want to go through facts about provides this, it is called MITA and they also offer life coaching. Please make me aware should you offer this too.

Reply

Fiverr best GIGs July 14, 2012 at 3:32 pm

lLpyRl Major thankies for the blog article.

Reply

Social Bookmarking July 15, 2012 at 1:15 am

3f61EO Great, thanks for sharing this article post.Thanks Again. Awesome.

Reply

levelingguidewow.org July 15, 2012 at 6:39 am

Aw, this was a actually good post. In concept I wish to put in writing like this in addition ?taking time and actual effort to make an superb post?nonetheless what can I say?I procrastinate alot and by no indicates appear to get something done. 149604

Reply

find here July 15, 2012 at 4:02 pm

I genuinely enjoy searching at on this site , it has great content material . 36209

Reply

cloud hosting July 16, 2012 at 2:39 pm

Hey There. I discovered your weblog employing msn. That is actually a quite smartly written post. I will make confident to bookmark it and come back to read far more of your beneficial data. Thanks for the post. I will surely return. 124623

Reply

Zebra Zoologist July 16, 2012 at 6:21 pm

nice page you should write a weekly newsletter :)

Reply

raspberry ketone July 16, 2012 at 10:04 pm

Soon after study some with the websites along with your internet internet site now, i genuinely as if your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark internet site list and is going to be checking back soon. Pls appear at my internet site likewise and figure out what you believe. 417953

Reply

Cancel reply

Leave a Comment

{ 9 trackbacks }

Previous post:

Next post: