A few thoughts …

Keith's Ramblings

for the Ragtag Daily Prompt where Christine has come up with the word, Promises.

Today I’m breaking my self-imposed 200 word limit promise and using an edited version of a 300 word piece I posted on my blog back in 2007.

.

>

When I was a baby I was confirmed into the church. I didn’t know what was going on of course. Apparently some old bloke wearing a frock and a dog collar tried to drown me, but I later discovered that this was normal practice. Three people known as Godparents promised to ‘provide me with the resources, opportunities and encouragement to follow Jesus’ whilst dripping molten wax all over me. Can’t remember who they were though.

When I went to big school I made several promises. I promised not to smoke, promised not to swear and promised to work hard. Mmmm! And I was even told that I actually had promise. Yea?

When I got my first girlfriend I promised not to go out with other girls. Fat chance! They usually promised to be faithful to me too and I stupidly believed them. Fool.

Then I got married. The ultimate promise. I’m pretty sure I promised to love honour and obey. By the way, Apaches promise to ‘look for what is right between us, not what is wrong’. And Eskimos promise to let their feet run and dance, presumably to avoid getting cold tootsies! At my friend’s wedding he said ‘I promise not to watch the next Netflix episode without you’! Anyway, I spouted out the wedding one several times but I’m not so sure it always included the obey bit. Come to think of it, the other bits proved a little difficult too.

Since then promises have come thick and fast. Ones I have made and ones I’ve received. Some have been kept, others have not.

Trouble is so many promises are worthless. I should know!

.

*The other day I saw a photo of a priest at a christening using a kid’s water pistol in order to stick to the social distancing rules!

.

26 thoughts on “A few thoughts …”

  1. Christine Goodnough Oct 18, 2020 / 14:31

    A great take on the prompt — and a very interesting life you’ve lived! I was almost in tears at the end. 😉
    (A water pistol to baptize?? What other insul… er, innovations will COVID deliver before it’s done with us?)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  2. Sadje Oct 18, 2020 / 15:12

    As someone said, promises are made to be broken! Water pistol seems a bit extreme

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  3. pensitivity101 Oct 18, 2020 / 15:42

    Ah, the wedding vows. I had a trial run in 1977-81 then believed someone else’s promises 1981 -89. When I said the current ones in 1991, my folks had never seen me so serious!
    Personally I love the idea of a water pistol. Mind you, some babies I know have reversed the situation and drenched the vicar!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  4. David Gascoigne Oct 18, 2020 / 16:08

    I am afraid that I broke several promises with my starter wife, but she did too. Now I am wise enough (did I really say that?) not to make promises, just try to do what seems sane and reasonable at the time. And of course that changes with age and circumstance and, yes, hormone levels. Thankfully, I was never subjected to the ritual administered by the fellow with the frock and dog collar. I suspect that after a few goes at it many of them realized the utter nonsense of it all anyway.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Keith's Ramblings Oct 18, 2020 / 16:16

      Starter wife – I like that! I think for many, a christening is more of a traditional ritual, like non believers marrying in church. Thanks for dropping by David.

      Like

      Reply
  5. Prior... Oct 18, 2020 / 17:08

    Love the wordplay and thought flow!
    Crazy about the water pistol –

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  6. Prior... Oct 18, 2020 / 17:09

    And you said this was from 2007 a but wasn’t Netflix still doing CDs at that time? I can vaguely recall my son running to the mailbox – but maybe it was earlier – ?

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Keith's Ramblings Oct 18, 2020 / 17:51

      I don’t think it was, but I added the Netflix reference to today’s ‘edited’ version! I forgotten about those CDs. Thanks for dropping by Prior

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
      • Prior... Oct 18, 2020 / 19:20

        Well my tears are a little off so whew – glad I was close
        And amazing you did in300 words!

        Liked by 1 person

  7. SueW Oct 18, 2020 / 17:29

    You married several times?
    You must be a glutton for punishment! 😂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Keith's Ramblings Oct 19, 2020 / 08:39

      Yes, it actually happened to avoid physical contact when applying the holy water!

      Like

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s