Margaret Anna Alice Through the Looking Glass

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Early-Blooming Parentheses + A Very Boring Story About What Could Have Been

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Early-Blooming Parentheses + A Very Boring Story About What Could Have Been

Margaret Anna Alice
Dec 25, 2021
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Early-Blooming Parentheses + A Very Boring Story About What Could Have Been

margaretannaalice.substack.com
Early-Blooming Parentheses; Dog Paw in Human Hand

“I privately say to you, old friend... please accept from me this unpretentious bouquet of early-blooming parentheses: (((()))).”

―J.D. Salinger, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction

I wish every one of you kindred souls and all those you cherish a radiant Christmas filled with merriment, mirth, and meaning.

As a token of my warmest thanks to you, please accept these lovingly selected early-blooming parentheses:

(((())))

Reading through the comments on my last post (and at all of my posts, really), I find my heart swelling with tearful gratitude for this wondrous community we have created together.

You are brilliant, you are courageous, you are kind.

You make me think, you make me laugh, you make me feel.

You brighten the world with your luminous presence, and you give me hope for the future of humanity.

Thank you, dear readers, for relentlessly seeking truth, for gallantly resisting tyranny, for choosing love over fear.

I am proud to call you my friends.

As we turn the soil on 2021 and begin planting seeds for the flourishing future to come, I would like to share a counterpoint to my grim fairy tale.

Let’s make this very boring story about what could have been a template for the year to come.

With love and appreciation,

Margaret Anna

A Very Boring Story About What Could Have Been in Under 200 Words

A Very Boring Story About What Could Have Been; Man Relaxing in Tree

Once upon a time, some people got a little sick. Other people got a lot sick, but that’s because they were already sick with something else first.

This sickness was similar to some other sicknesses, but there were little differences, like not being able to smell or taste.

Most people didn’t think about it unless they or someone they knew got the sickness. As soon as anybody got it, they took a special combination of natural supplements and safe, cheap pills designed to stop it.

The people who got sick stayed home and took the pills until they felt better. Then they went back to work or school or whatever it was they did when they felt fine.

To boost their immune systems, people started eating healthier, exercising, getting more sunshine, enjoying fresh air, relaxing, and spending time with loved ones.

No one died of the sickness or went to the hospital. No one talked about it because there wasn’t anything to talk about. It wasn’t much worse than a cold and was easier to treat.

Eventually, so many people got this sickness, it went away altogether.

And that’s the story of the slightly different sickness.

The End.


© Margaret Anna Alice, LLC
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Early-Blooming Parentheses + A Very Boring Story About What Could Have Been

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Professor
Dec 25, 2021Liked by Margaret Anna Alice

There is a place we enter in,

What never was, what might have been.

Where are you now,? Afraid to seek?

Afraid to talk? Well we still speak.

We say the things never said,

To try to reach inside your head.

If you could hear you'd understand,

what never was, was also planned.

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JJ
Writes Freedom over Fear
Dec 25, 2021Liked by Margaret Anna Alice

Love what could have been. Agree it’s such a relief to find like-minded people in these crazy times. Merry Christmas

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