WordPress Daily Writing Prompt #2808 for June 30, 2026
If you told my 18-year-old self that my future would involve eating baby Lima beans and crying at Nicholas Sparks movies, I would have assumed you had me confused with someone else.
Yet, here we are.
When I saw today’s writing prompt, the word “instantly” flashed in my mind alongside a vision of Lima beans. Growing up, I hated them with a passion. My hatred peaked during Army basic training in Alabama, where the chow hall subjected us to a summer succotash featuring corn, Lima beans, and okra. It was a trifecta of misery. I still hate okra. some lines cannot be crossed. But the Lima bean hatred vanished. Now? Love them. Especially the itty-bitty baby ones.
Alabama was also the stage for my great Grits Trauma. Being from Michigan, morning staples were sweet—Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat with milk, sugar, and raisins. Then I moved south and was presented with hominy. What is a Midwestern girl supposed to do with that? Worse, they put cheese and pepper on it.
It took me a few decades, but somewhere between 18 and 60, I saw the light. I love grits now. Granted, I still mostly eat them like a Yankee (sweetened with milk and raisins), but give me a plate of shrimp and grits, and I’m a happy woman.
My final evolution is literary. I used to treat the romance genre like a contagious disease. I wouldn’t touch it. Cut to the present day: I love The Notebook, I am obsessed with Outlander and Fifty Shades Of Grey, and quite ironically, I watch cheesy holiday romance films where a big-city lawyer falls in love with a small-town Christmas tree farmer.
I guess time really does change us. Either I’ve gotten wiser, or my younger self just didn’t know what she was missing!
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