Twenty-five years Dana had been waiting.

She tried to be patient during that time but

she hadn't always managed to be as patient as she'd like. But today the opportunity had
finally come. The thing she always imagined would make her the happiest person in the
world was about to happen. She didn't know why at this specific time she all of a sudden
felt sick inside.
There wasn't a whole lot he could do at that moment. He played the situation again and
again in his head looking at what he might have done differently to make the situation
better. No matter how many times he relived the situation in his head, there was never
really a good alternative course of action. There simply wasn't a whole lot he could have
done in that particular moment.
Sometimes there isn't a good answer. No matter how you try to rationalize the outcome,
it doesn't make sense. And instead of an answer, you are simply left with a question.
Why?
He lifted the bottle to his lips and took a sip of the drink. He had tasted this before, but
he couldn't quite remember the time and place it had happened. He desperately
searched his mind trying to locate and remember where he had tasted this when the
bicycle ran over his foot.
They decided to find the end of the rainbow. While they hoped they would find a pot of
gold, neither of them truly believed that the mythical pot would actually be there. Nor did
they believe they could actually find the end of the rainbow. Still, it seemed like a fun
activity for the day, and pictures of them chasing rainbows would look great on their
Instagram accounts. They would have never believed they would actually find the end of
a rainbow, and when they did, what they actually found there.
As she sat watching the world go by, something caught her eye. It wasn't so much its
color or shape, but the way it was moving. She squinted to see if she could better
understand what it was and where it was going, but it didn't help. As she continued to
stare into the distance, she didn't understand why this uneasiness was building inside
her body. She felt like she should get up and run. If only she could make out what it
was. At that moment, she comprehended what it was and where it was heading, and
she knew her life would never be the same.
"Begin today!" That's all the note said. There was no indication from where it came or
who may have written it. Had it been meant for someone else? Meghan looked around
the room, but nobody made eye contact back. For a brief moment, she thought it might
be a message for her to follow her dreams, but ultimately decided it was easier to ignore
it as she crumpled it up and threw it away.
Finding the truth wouldn't be easy, that's for sure. Then there was the question of
whether or not Jane really wanted to know the truth. That's the thing that bothered her
most. It wasn't the difficulty of actually finding out what happened that was the obstacle,
but having to live with that information once it was found.
Betty decided to write a short story and she was sure it was going to be amazing. She
had already written it in her head and each time she thought about it she grinned from
ear to ear knowing how wonderful it would be. She could imagine the accolades coming
in and the praise she would receive for creating such a wonderful piece. She was
therefore extremely frustrated when she actually sat down to write the short story and
the story that was so beautiful inside her head refused to come out that way on paper.
 She was aware that things could go wrong. In fact, she had trained her entire life in
anticipation that things would go wrong one day. She had quiet confidence as she
started to see that this was the day that all her training would be worthwhile and useful.
At this point, she had no idea just how wrong everything would go that day.
Brock would have never dared to do it on his own he thought to himself. That is why
Kenneth and he had become such good friends. Kenneth forced Brock out of his
comfort zone and made him try new things he'd never imagine doing otherwise. Up to
this point, this had been a good thing. It had expanded Brock's experiences and given
him a new appreciation for life. Now that both of them were in the back of a police car,
all Brock could think was that he would have never dared do it except for the influence
of Kenneth.
She has seen this scene before. It had come to her in dreams many times before. She
had to pinch herself to make sure it wasn't a dream again. As her fingers squeezed
against her arm, she felt the pain. It was this pain that immediately woke her up.
Rhonda prided herself on always taking the path less traveled. She'd decided to do this
at an early age and had continued to do so throughout her entire life. It was a point of
pride and she would explain to anyone who would listen that doing so was something
that she'd made great efforts to always do. She'd never questioned this decision until
her five-year-old niece asked her, "So, is this why your life has been so difficult?" and
Rhonda didn't have an answer for her.
The picket fence had stood for years without any issue. That's all it was. A simple,
white, picket fence. Why it had all of a sudden become a lightning rod within the
community was still unbelievable to most. Yet a community that had once lived in
harmony was now divided in bitter hatred and it had everything to do with the white
picket fence.
There was only half a worm in the apple. At first, Judy didn't quite comprehend what this
meant. "Why would only half a worm be living in an apple?" she wondered. And then it
dawned on her. Judy quickly spit out the bite she had just taken expecting to see the
other half of the worm. It ended up being much worse than that.
It really didn't matter what they did to him. He's already made up his mind. Whatever
came his way, he was prepared for the consequences. He knew in his heart that the
sacrifice he made was done with love and not hate no matter how others decided to
spin it.
Green vines attached to the trunk of the tree had wound themselves toward the top of
the canopy. Ants used the vine as their private highway, avoiding all the creases and
crags of the bark, to freely move at top speed from top to bottom or bottom to top
depending on their current chore. At least this was the way it was supposed to be.
Something had damaged the vine overnight halfway up the tree leaving a gap in the
once pristine ant highway.
Sometimes it's the first moment of the day that catches you off guard. That's what
Wendy was thinking. She opened her window to see fire engines screeching down the
street. While this wasn't something completely unheard of, it also wasn't normal. It was
a sure sign of what was going to happen that day. She could feel it in her bones and it
wasn't the way she wanted the day to begin.
I've rented a car in Las Vegas and have reserved a hotel in Twentynine Palms which is
just north of Joshua Tree. We'll drive from Las Vegas through Mojave National Preserve
 and possibly do a short hike on our way down. Then spend all day on Monday at
Joshua Tree. We can decide the next morning if we want to do more in Joshua Tree or
Mojave before we head back.
MaryLou wore the tiara with pride. There was something that made doing anything she
didn't really want to do a bit easier when she wore it. She really didn't care what those
staring through the window were thinking as she vacuumed her apartment.
Matt told her to reach for the stars, but Veronica thought it was the most ridiculous
advice she'd ever received. Sure, it had been well-meaning when he said it, but she
didn't understand why anyone would want to suggest something that would literally kill
you if you actually managed to achieve it.
It probably seemed trivial to most people, but it mattered to Tracey. She wasn't sure
why it mattered so much to her, but she understood deep within her being that it
mattered to her. So for the 365th day in a row, Tracey sat down to eat pancakes for
breakfast.
She had been told time and time again that the most important steps were the first and
the last. It was something that she carried within her in everything she did, but then he
showed up and disrupted everything. He told her that she had it wrong. The first step
wasn't the most important. The last step wasn't the most important. It was the next step
that was the most important.
Colors bounced around in her head. They mixed and threaded themselves together.
Even colors that had no business being together. They were all one, yet distinctly
separate at the same time. How was she going to explain this to the others?
My pincher collar is snapped on. Then comes the electric zapper collar. Finally, my
purple at-home collar is taken off and I know I’m going for a walk to the dog park. I’m so
excited to see my friends. I hope Spike or Thunder are there already. They're the most
fun to chase and tumble with. My human is pretty strict with me. I’m only allowed on the
grass and not on the sidewalks. I think she’s afraid I’m going to jump on the other
humans. I don’t understand why everyone else gets to jump on the benches and run
wild on the sidewalks. They don’t listen to their humans. I know I could ignore mine but
if I do she may zap me and it’s just not worth it. She probably wouldn’t let me back at
the dog park if I didn’t listen to her. I just love the dog park.
The bridge spanning a 100-foot gully stood in front of him as the last obstacle blocking
him from reaching his destination. While people may have called it a "bridge", the reality
was it was nothing more than splintered wooden planks held together by rotting ropes. It
was questionable whether it would hold the weight of a child, let alone the weight of a
grown man. The problem was there was no other way across the gully, and this played
into his calculations of whether or not it was worth the risk of trying to cross it.