Yes, the story is not that optimistic, but it reminds me on an old song, which says " ... this pain reminds me that I live ...". Glad to hear from you, Dirk ...

Wow! Excellent story even though it is sad.

Window seat, my favorite... [=

Fantastic story. Life does go on, no matter who is going to have a bad or good day of it. Thank you for sharing this. Bunny

Interesting, the fact about the guns. Provocative story. I've told my children often while holding them and wiping away tears, no matter how bad it gets, the sun will always come up again tomorrow. But what comes tomorrow? I'm glad they didn't ask.

I can see it happen as you discribe it .. wonderful image as well.

Your way with images in this is quite good. I can't say that there's anything overtly optimistic in this piece, but it has a sense of realism that is in it's own paradoxical way, optimistic. It never promises that life gets better, that days ahead are filled with rainbows and lollipops. It does, however, state that there will be more baths taken in the future, that favorite teams will play favorite sports (yeah, and maybe even fail to win) but it doesn't matter, because ultimately, the most positive thing that anyone can say is, for better or for worse, life goes on...and ultimately...what is more enticing than that?

Wonderful work my friend.....!!!

You've painted a vivid picture. I can almost feel the quiet of a Sunday afternoon being briefly interrupted by outside events. Nicely done!

You write way too good, love reading your thoughts - I get lost. H.

An interesting word picture of what you witnessed from your window. Violence seems to be everywhere these days. A good week to you too.

Nearly keeled, clammering to get here :) But, how well worth it, I can't quite explain. I've been sucked into this for nearly 15 minutes now, I'll bet. Yanno, I suppose it could be debated, that there is a hint of age, and perhaps, illness-induced complacency within these words. Personally, I cannot view it in this light though. I don't sense complacency at all. Instead, I find a vein of detachment from the trite, from a certain inexplicable smallness...a distancing from those things that don't directly impact, when the individual battles become quite enough to withstand, thank-you-very-much..and a contentedness to remain within the comforting solace found within our own constructed confines. What I find within, is growth (whether self-imposed or inflicted..what's it matter really?) into an ironically bigger sense of things: the very realization that the tiniest life-moments (even when they're losses, losses, and more losses..lol) are the real and meatiest substance of all. Leave it to you to pen it. ;) And the capture here, with such a beautiful sense of rawness and exposure. Wonderful, Dirk! :)

I like the story,it is life as it is..thanks for the story and i wish you well. I love the image also,it is the way life is.

When I read your words, I see in my mind's eye kaleidascopic snippets of the event you describe..and, while perhaps getting a glimpse of what you feel through your skillfully penned/typed words, I assign my own feelings to the the pictures you paint for me, the reader. You're quite good at triggering my own memories of like happenings and reactions, and- in that way, your writing is evocative. By itself, without the intrusion of my perspective, it is intense and poignant, despite (and perhaps because of) the non-chalant reaction you convey. I hope your neighbors are ok.

You just never know what's going to happen out your window, sometimes it's something like this, but another day maybe it's something a lot better. That's the beauty of it, and you tell it well.

It's interesting the choices one makes for a thrill without regard for the future, and it's not always the young that do this. Your writing makes me think so deeply. Thank you for that.

Sometimes life feels like chaos. One looks for a script to make sense of it. I like the photo of the downed tree as well.