Pam Parish

Check out the rest of my thankfulness journey here.

#18: The gifts and talents of our children. As parents, we should always celebrate our children’s talents and encourage them to tap into those things that God has blessed them with. Our oldest, Kristan, is a great writer. For a 12 year old, she amazes me with the depth of her thinking and her ability to put it into words. She even has her own blog, too. This week, she proudly announced that her writing had been selected as one of the winning pieces in a school mosaic writing competition and was included in the published Illuminations booklet. She actually had two poems published, one was selected as a “Mosaic Winner.” Kristan, we’re very proud of you, honey.

Here’s the winning poem:

If Life Were Like Chocolate

By: Kristan Parish

If life were like chocolate,
Life would be a dream.
I’d make myself a chocolate cake,
And be on Cadbury’s team.

If life were like chocolate,
I’d see the Milky Way.
I’d cross the Chocolate River,
Oh, I’d have a lot to say.

Dreamy chocolate marshmallows
would be dancing through my head.
If life were like chocolate,
I’d never want to be dead.

I’d surf a chocolate ocean,
And just drink chocolate milk.
I’d write a letter to myself,
And envelope it with silk.

If life were like chocolate,
I’d have no time to waste.
But, I’d rather be a couch Hershey
than a potato with no taste.

I’d run for president,
Giving plenty of speeches.
I’d ban all fruits and veggies,
I’d even ban peaches.

I’d cross hot cocoa powdered deserts,
with a lot of “sand.”
I’d still have a smile on my face, though
Oh, I’d be just grand!

I’d invent the “Chocolate Walk”
for all models to try
I’d be as rich as Bill Gates,
In a chocolate jet I would fly.

I’d climb Chocolate Mountain,
and ski down sundae slopes.
I’d eat chocolate bunnies,
and ruin all their hopes.

Oh, chocolate is good,
or, so it would seem.
What if all this chocolaty goodness
was only just a dream?

What if chocolate cake mix
made only gross brown mud pies?
What if Cadbury was a liar,
or a robber in disquise?

What if caramel asteroids
polluted the Milky Way?
What if there was no Chocolate River,
or anything to say?

What if chocolate marshmallows
didn’t dance through my head?
I’d be so depressed,
That I might like to be dead.

What if there was no chocolate ocean,
or any chocolate milk?
What if letters weren’t allowed?
There would be no reason for silk.

What if there was no time
or it was made to waste?
What if there were no couch Hersheys,
leaving a potato with no taste?

What if I couldn’t run for president,
or give any speeches?
What if fruits and veggies
turned, and attached the peaches?

What if hot cocoa
couldn’t ever make sand?
I’d have a frown on my face.
I’d try my best to make a stand.

What if the “Chocolate Walk”
was already made up?
I’d be poorer than Bill Gates
and in a jet I couldn’t go up.

What if Chocolate Mountain
didn’t have sundae slopes?
What if chocolate bunnies
turned out to be dopes?

What if all this chocolate
isn’t as good as it seems?
Trust me; life will be like chocolate,
But only in my dreams

______________________________________

Here’s her additional entry which also made the book:

Summer Rain

By: Kristan Parish

Summer rain, fast and warm
It falls slowly.
Better days are coming,
for the rain says so.
The rain falls,
Strengthening the earth,
Reviving the vapid,
Replenishing souls.
It comes down,
to the earth,
whispering a hiss,
like a distant wind.

It cleanses the earth,
detoxifying it.

I go outside,
smelling the humid air.

As it cleanses the earth,
It cleanses me.

Clearing my mind,
cleaning my soul.

This summer rain,
it goes without wanting,
it slips into the clouds,
falling as summer rain.

______________________________________

Practicing thankfulness,