The Rose

As it turns out, people are still wrecks but they are just more-mature wrecks. And, somewhere in-between all the “who the heck are you agains”, baby pictures, marriages, engagements and work descriptions, I actually think I had a fairly good time. I really have to give credit to the hostess, who picked a good venue and entertained us all with style. There was a bar and bowling, and some H’orderves to snack on. Not everybody showed up, but I had a good time catching up with people. If anything, the only bad thing I went home with was a sinking feeling that I was still single after ten years and all these people were married or engaged. And, if you’re single and all your friends are getting married, you’ve been there.

I’m not sure if you keep up with the little “memories” notifications Facebook and Timehop throw at you; but, when I got home from this reunion, one such notification popped up. And, there, in my feed, was 18-year-old me, starting up a blog called, “The Rose”, like “Hey, peeps, just trying out this thing! We’ll see how it goes!” Hence, this blog was born.

It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years, and that, consequentially, this blog is now ten-years old and celebrating its ten-year anniversary. I haven’t written much in 2017, but I didn’t want the year to close out without at least mentioning this. It passed quietly, without even much of a thought, but it’s a landmark achievement for me. Because, it means: ten years ago, I decided to officially start writing and publishing my work, here on this blog.

Somewhere, in the depth of my college dorm room, at my desk underneath my lofted bed I needed a ladder to climb up to get to (always a challenge right there, waking up in the morning), I decided to start a blog of my own. I got the idea from my friend, Krista, who had a blog of her own on WordPress. And, I thought, “If I had a blog, what would I write about?” Of course, I knew it would be writing.

What to name it? I thought of my grandmother’s roses, about the life philosophy I had of writing like a rose, about how writing had blossoms and thorns, just like life, because it was shaped from my life experiences. “I’ll change it later,” I thought, typing out, “The Rose”, as the title. If only I knew how many countless gamer tags and defining moments would come from that one title, how my life would come to be defined by this blog and the roses I named it after.

Ten years later, my grandmother is dead and her house is sold, but the roses are still there. They bloom here, and have bloomed here, also, in the form of many countless poems and short stories, each more or less like a rose. I now have more “roses” than I can count and am closer than ever before to achieving my goal of publishing a book of short stories and poetry.

Who can forget “Stars”? The first semi-perfect sonnet I ever published. I spent hours upon hours working on the format, agonizing over how each semi-perfect sonnet would look after that. Today, I have at least 10 or more semi-perfect sonnets, all denoting imperfection, even as my sonnets attempt to point to perfection.

Or, what about some of my originals, such as “The Chess Game”, “The Quilt” or “Lamentations”? They are all now classics in their own right in my book. I was just reflecting on how long it has been since I wrote “Crimson”, a sonnet about Jesus (and my Christian faith), and how many times I tweaked it until it was perfect. If only my high school English teachers could see me now, eh? A professional paginator and writer, with a decade-old blog of her own, with so many memories!

Just skim through the Ad-Libs, the countless ad-libs over the years (can I even read them all?), and you will see what a great decade it has been. On to 2018; on to the future. What will a new decade hold? Perhaps I will, in ten years, be writing about this then.

Think about that.~

Sincerely, Your Writer,

Jessica A. McLean

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Recent Happenings:

• Recent Ad-Lib Activity:
  • The December 2017 Ad-Lib is here!
    • In the spirit of celebrating a decade of keeping up this blog (or lack thereof!), here is a celebratory Ad Lib for you all.
  • Recently, I have not been keeping up with Ad-Libbing. I graduated two years ago from Oakland University and I got a job at The Oakland Press. I was doing more writing, editing, designing and publishing than I could ever dream of. But, this cascade of graduating, finding a job and working hard at a job has captivated much of my time and mental faculties, leaving little time for personal reflection. I decided there just wasn’t time for Ad-Libbing, but I would keep publishing poetry, which is what I have done. I may not be able to publish Ad-Libs monthly as before, but I hope every couple of months does the trick.~
• Recently Published:
  • Poems Added:
    • “Mixing”, an emotional free verse about emotional processing and living
    • “Reciprocation”, an emotional poem talking about reciprocation (or lack of) in a close friendship. This is the first poem inspired by this friend for me. I have been working on a poem I feel is publishable for this friendship. This ended up being it.
• Editing, editing, and more editing.
• Waiting 🙂

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