Live below the line, day 3

Poverty (Photo credit: carlaarena)

This is not getting any easier!  I had to work a mid-shift today (10:30-7…blah), ate breakfast before I went in, had a meeting to prepare for and then the actual meeting itself, so didn’t really eat lunch.  Had dinner at 5.  So it was kind of an odd eating day for me.  I haven’t figured up my total cost of food for the day yet, but I can’t imagine that I went over…we’ll see…

Breakfast:

2 slices toast  .10, 1 T peanut butter  .06, 6-oz oj  .14,  milk  .15  (sound familiar?  this is actually what I eat just about every morning)

Total for breakfast was 45 cents

Snack:

crackers  .14, hot tea  .04

Total for snack was 18 cents

Dinner:

1 chicken tender  .30, 1 slice bread .05, radishes  free (from my garden),  celery  .08, hot tea  .04, frozen fruit  .42

Dinner’s total was .89

So that makes the total for the day $1.52

There are a lot of folks participating in this challenge.  I’ve been reading some of their blogs this week.  I think we’re all getting a glimpse into the lives of people who live in extreme poverty.  Enough of a glimpse to feel a lot of compassion, I’m sure.  But I can’t help but  think that there’s an end in sight for us whereas, for many of these people, there isn’t. I feel for people who live their lives without a lot of hope, without the belief that it can ever be different for them.  I hope everyone will donate to their local food banks, donate to worldwide poverty relief organizations, help the neighbor or family member who has fallen on tough times…but what I would really like to see is our politicians join forces to make this better.  Do I have a lot of hope that this will happen?  Not unless enough of us demand it.

Related articles

• Live Below the Line… Day 3 (aussiebutterfly.com)
• A Dozen Below The Line: Day 10 musings and a tale of tuna! (agirlcalledlynsey.com)

Want to dance?

Dance Hall (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When she reaches Sean, she hesitates for just a second and says, “Hello.”  With the briefest of glances over her shoulder, she continues walking away.

As Sean watches the girl in blue walk away, everything else in the dance hall fades into the background.  He no longer hears the music, no longer sees the couples dancing on the floor, his eyes are riveted to the little blonde as she sits down with her friends.  Once seated, she raises her eyes to meet Sean’s, then quickly glances away, her cheeks flushed.

Kenny stares at his buddy, finding it hard to believe that any girl can have this effect on Sean.  “Sean, you have to ask her to dance now, man.  She made the first move.”

With eyebrow raised, Sean looks at Kenny like he’s nuts.  “First move?  What are you talking about?”

Kenny raises both hands in the air, “Look…where do you think she was going?  She walked over this way for what purpose?  To say hi to you.  That’s it.”

Rubbing his chin, Sean considers what his friend has just said.  Looking at Kenny, a smile begins forming on Sean’s face.  “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Elbows on the table, hands clasped, Sean glances back toward the girl.  “Yeah…yeah…you’re right.”  Pushing himself away from the table, Sean slowly stands.  He pats Kenny on the shoulder, turns and walks away, not realizing that the eyes of most of the girls in the dance hall are following him as his long, jean-clad legs carry him around the floor.

When he reaches the table where the three girls are sitting, the little blonde turns her aqua eyes toward him.  He smiles and says, “Hi, I’m Sean.”

Biting her lower lip, the little blonde smiles and says, “Hi Sean, I’m Becky.”

With his smile growing, Sean says, “Hi, Becky.  I was wondering if maybe you’d want to dance?”

Related articles

• The Loon Lake Dancing Pavillion (bigbasslakemi.wordpress.com)