Anna M. Aquino

Right out of college, I took a job at a jewelry store selling higher end merchandise in the mall. The mall I worked at was a busy downtown clientele and in order for me to drive to work, I had to park on the top floor of the parking garage and take and elevator to reach the mall entrance. One night I had just gotten off work and I found myself alone in the elevator. The Ohio nighttime had an air of crisp coldness that could be felt as the elevator shut its door and made its ascension. I stood back to stare at the doors. Something was not right. The institutional elevator doors could not quite close all the way. I could see that though the elevator was bringing me up, there was a rubber strip that was pulling out of the door. It was probably three inches across and it ran from the top to the bottom of the door. I am a pretty curious individual. I knew I should not touch the rubber strip. Common sense tried to reason within my mind, but I did not listen to that voice. Inst...

I love good seafood. I always have. Dan isn’t much of a fish eater but for the first few years of our marriage he would enjoy a nice piece of salmon. I considered it a fair compromise and I worked that into a once and awhile meal. I’m going to guess it was around six to seven years ago, Dan and I walked into a grocery store and they were having a sale on salmon. It looked good to both of us so we bought dinner and went home to cook it. We savored our meal, and thought all was fine. We’d had plans to attend a church dinner the next day and I went about making the desserts I needed to make and all seemed well. Until that night, I woke up sicker than sick. I was puking everywhere. I figured it was just me and I must be fighting something so I did what I had to do, and was trying to take care of myself. Fortunately because at the moment Dan wasn’t sick he took care of our oldest daughter for me. I spent four hours plus huddled in the bathroom. I wasn’t just a little sick, I was violently i...

In the years I spent at Ohio State University’s Theatre Department there was one particular quarter where I ran the sound board for The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov. The sound board for the theatre was in its own little room. I wore a head set that the Assistant Director, Lighting operator, Stage Manager and a few others had access to speak on. Night in and night out I sat in front of the computer and waited for the Assistant Director to give me the sign to click on the sound effect for each scene. The nights wore on, and I spent my time staring at the computer, watching the play for the twentieth time, and creating my own artwork out of whatever paper and pencils I could find. One night in particular the students were talking over the headset about random things and the Lighting Operator revealed that she was Wiccan and had just had a reading done. Suddenly all voiced turned to her. Their curiosity was sparked, and they wanted to know more. I have found that people have a supernatu...

*** I wrote this today because something I read in the newspaper that ticked me off, and I wrote a letter to the editor. I don't want the CIA to mistakenly believe I'm trying to overthrow the current administration by physical force. I'm just trying to rally the believers. I'm not a person that flows in poetry often, but when I do it really hits me. I realize this will tick some folks off :-) **** What if we started a coup By Anna M. Aquino Copyright 2010 What if we started a coup… And the liberals were removed from their high and lofty place. What if we started a coup…. Where we bound complacency, apathy, masked tyranny and loss of accountability. What if we started a coup… Where the American idols didn’t have more rights than God and His believers do. The pursuit of religious freedom has been deceived and misshapen And now like a noose around our neck it chokes. Politically Correct, Controlling Healthcare, Budget Deficit All drunken excuses to take another toke, or ma...

When I was competitively cheering in high school I decided to take a diving class at Ohio State to help me with my gymnastics. The first day I walked into the pool area I remember looking up, and thinking I want to dive from that. I’ve always been the thrill seeker. I figured I’ve dove off of high dives at a normal pool before, and I’m a strong swimmer so why not? The highest Olympic sized platform for diving is 33ft in the air; you can roughly say 3 stories up. It took me a few classes to work up the courage to ask the instructor, and his response surprised me. He would let us climb the stairs and look down, but under no terms were we going to dive off that platform. I’m not a girl that’s afraid of heights but looking 3 stories down into the water was a little humbling. He told us about how he once dove off the platform, and messed up. The water pressure is so intense that when he came up out of the water his bathing suit had been ripped off his body on impact. In my novice eyes I did...

Some of you may have heard me tell this story before, if you have bear with me. It has been one that has been on my heart for the last few days.J I grew up technically in a small Ohio town, but really, my mom and dad’s house is in between the town and an even smaller blurb on a map. I think the technical definition of Waldo, Ohio is a village it may be a township. Waldo, Ohio is every bit what the image of a small town: two traffic lights, two churches, a few bars (one well known for its fried bologna sandwiches), a fireman’s festival every year, an ice cream stand, and two churches. Being that the town is so small the two churches used to get together on occasions for various functions. I grew up in the Lutheran one, and caddy cornered to it was a Methodist church. One fall evening, I would guess it would have been my senior year of High School; I drove over to the Methodist church for baton twirling lessons. I was a twirler for a few years at school and the woman I took lessons from ...

I don’t know if it’s just the age of my youngest daughter, or just her personality, or maybe both. But if things don’t go her way she has a tendency to jump up and down and throw a fit. It causes a lot of irritation in our home. I’m usually okay at ignoring it, until the feet come out stomping, kicking, and jumping and that is usually my breaking point for correction. Because I know this about her I have found myself purposely trying in some situations to change her pattern and allow there to be change in it, just so her reaction can be put in check. For example the other day both girls wanted to pray at the dinner table. I’ll never tell you that you can’t pray in my house however instead of letting the youngest go first, I let the oldest. I got the reaction I expected. The youngest threw a fit, but I was also able to look at my youngest in the eyes and correct her for her attitude. I realized when I did this that sometimes I think God does the same to us. Don’t get me wrong...

My grandmother was an amazing woman. She had an uncanny ability to get anything spotless. If she couldn’t clean it she’d paint it. I’m not joking. She would even bleach her lawn rocks once a year. Because of this ability anytime we had a garment we couldn’t seem to get the stain out it would get sent to grandma’s house because somehow she could. The problem with this was that sometimes when you sent any type of garment with color in it, there were no promises as to what color it would be when you got it back. Sometimes that wasn’t too big of a deal. However when your school colors are Red and Black, and your on the softball team, and suddenly your uniform is a strange shade of orange and brown it can get a little embarrassing. I’m exaggerating a tad. I don’t remember it ever turning orange and brown, but I do remember it being a slightly different shade of red. It was obvious that uniform was different and stood out. The blood of Jesus is better than any bleach. John 1:7 ...

When I was in college I remember one of my professor’s telling a story about a girl. She was frustrated and upset because she couldn’t get a job as a set designer. She’d been told “no” time and time again, One particular day she found herself setting on a park bench crying. She clutched her resume in her hand wondering if anyone would ever value her talent. Eventually a man sat down on the bench next to her. Seeing the crying woman beside him he couldn’t help but ask her what was wrong. The two began to talk. The young woman sobbed, and finally she relayed the story that she’d been trying to find a job as a set designer and no one would hire her. Finally the man said, “Well do you have your resume with you?” She handed him the resume heavy hearted. He took a look at it. Handed it back to her and said, “You are hired!” It turns out that the man had been trying to hire a set designer for the traveling set of Phantom of the Opera. The moral my professor used to always tell ...