Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to every one of you. May today be filled with kind words towards each other, and memories that will last a lifetime.

Birthday in Heaven

December 22, 2013, is an important date for two reasons. It would have been my dad’s 50th birthday and it marks 11 months since my dad died. This post is going to be special as I share a bit about my dad and the legacy he left.

Meet Kenny Krulish, or as I like to call him, my dad. At work he was known as Captain Kenny, or if you were one of his students you probably called him “Captain”. Yeah, my dad was a firefighter. He basically had done and seen it all while working for St. Johns County Fire Rescue for 24 years. My dad worked in the stations running calls (in fact that’s how he spent his last few years working) but a majority of his career was teaching the new hires. One of his specialties when it came to teaching was making training videos. I guess that’s where I got my love of photography, videoing and editing came from. Don’t worry though, my dad had a life outside of his job and was quite the family man.

Disney Cruise. November 2009

When he was at home he was always in family time mode. We would either be heading off to the beach, watching football, or planning our next family vacation. My dad strived to make sure my brother and I had a childhood we would cherish the rest of our lives. He loved to go on last minute adventures with us and stopped at nothing to make sure it was epic. When we lived in a big community, during the summer my dad would invite all the neighborhood kids to come swimming at our house. We would spend all day in the pool playing games and he was right there having fun with us. Then we would all get on our golf cart and go to the park. Yeah, he was the dad with all the cool toys.

What would be our last family vacation. New York City August 2012

All of those things were great, but who was he to me? I mean a dad is supposed to be the most important person in a girl’s life, right? Well for me, he was and still is. Unfortunately I didn’t realize it till after he died, but now I recognize the value I placed on him and how much I needed him. My dad and I were like the same person; we shared so many traits and qualities. I could understand what he was thinking without him having to say anything, and he was the same with me. He always treated me like a daddy’s girl and now I know how much of one I was and still am.

Snowboarding with my dad. January 2010

As you have probably figured it out on your own, my dad was a one of kind. Today he would have been 50 years old, and I can only imagine all the jokes I would have teased him with for being so old. So I would like to dedicate this post to you Dad. Hope I am making you proud. Happy 50th birthday in Heaven.

-Love your Kare-Bear.

Creative Writing

We all, as writers, can reach a creative plateau when it comes to our writing. It’s that point when our writing doesn’t have as much passion and thought behind it like normally does. It can seem like we’ve run out of things to get our creative juices going. As writers, we use situations around us to help us write and express our thoughts. But what happens when everything around us is at a point that doesn’t evoke some kind of emotion?

A friend of mine, knowing my creative writing side, gave me a gift this year to help when I experience such situations. I find it to be very helpful when it comes to needing intriguing writing prompts. It’s a book called 642 Things to Write About by The San Francisco Writers’ Grotto. This book was put together in 24 hours and literally has 642 writing prompts in the book. There are situations I would have never even thought about to write on.

The main point of the book is to help us as writers get our creative wheels turning by providing emotion and thought provoking situations. If you don’t have something like this, I highly recommend you go out and get it. Here is a picture of what the cover of my book looks like:

 

642 Things to Write About by The San Francisco Writers’ Grotto