Darling is a beautiful word.
It sounds like a hummingbird bird, hovering sweetly in her field.
It feels like a little bell that rings away the muck of a muddy day.
There are words that I know.
And there are words that I love.
Darling is a word that I love.
Because what lives within its delicate walls is a treasure greater than the word itself.
An essence.
A code.
A little piece of wonderland.
Beautiful and true.
I may be about to make the biggest mistake of my life.
Okay, that’s a little dramatic, let me rephrase.
I may be about to make the biggest mistake of 2020.
So!
What’s the big mistake, you ask?
The thing that’s got me a little rattled, a little nervous, a little unsure?
It’s the first of May, tomorrow.
And THIS is happening!
Again!
I’m both frightened and thrilled, all rolled into a woman.
Thrilled because the last Darling blog of May brought so much beauty and fun to my life.
Frightened because the last Darling blog of May could have gone SO badly wrong, given there are only SO many ‘darling things’ a girl can think of on any given month of her life.
But I am ready.
And so it is we begin.
The only rules are: the official ‘darling’ post for the day must reference ‘darling’ in some way. I might play with either the word or the concept…there are no limits, except for that teeny little word: Darling.
And yes. I’m leaving the rules relatively open to allow me the opportunity to, umm, (cough) cheat on days the creative tank is running on empty. (Lol. I am NOT sorry, guys! This is for my own sanity. Ha ha ha.)
I will also continue with my regular content when the tank is full enough to allow more than one post a day— you’ll know the difference by both the title and the ‘Darling blog of May’ banner at the bottom of each post.
So, yes. That’s what’s happening this month on The Little Blog Of Everything.
I so hope everyone can make it along for the ride! Yay!
xx Brooke
Moon River, wider than a mile,
I’m crossing you in style some day.
Old dream maker, you heart breaker,
Wherever you’re going,
I’m going your way.
Two drifters, off to see the world.
There’s such a lot of world to see.
We’re after the same rainbow’s end,
Waiting ’round the bend,
My huckleberry friend,
Moon River and me.
Sigh. xx Brooke
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Darling day 14.
A day to sit in front of the computer and stare.
And stare.
And stare some more and wonder: is this where it all comes crashing down?
Is this the day the tank that once was full drizzles to a dripping halt?
The day this brain of mine says:
Guys.
I feel we’ve reached a point in our relationship where we can be honest about things.
Honest about the good.
Honest about the bad.
And honest about the very, very bad.
This.
This is very, very bad.
And it’s not to say that I don’t have any plans for this darling blog of mine.
Oh no. They’re there, alright.
Tucked up my sleeve, waiting for the perfect day to reveal themselves to me.
The thing is— This. Is not that day.
Nope. Sorry.
Today, the brain says: NO.
That’s got to be a little darling in itself, right?
Umm. Right?
Meet my darling little sugar pot.
I met this little darling in an op-shop, not too long ago, actually.
Our eyes met, and that was it: love.
Love so great, in fact, that I bought her despite the fact that I don’t take sugar in my tea. Or my coffee, for that matter.
There was just something about her sweet little-cottage charm that told me she belonged at our house.
She was perfect in her own right, but also, perfect for me. Perfect for all the guests she’d delight with her dainty, sugary goodness.
So I cupped her in my hand and I walked her up to the counter, where a kind old lady met me with a smile.
And just like that: she was mine, this darling little sugar pot.
The most darling little sugar pot I ever did see.
Let’s talk about words.
I adore words. I wrote about them here and I will, no doubt, write about them again on this blog because… I’m a little bit nerdy, like that.
I love writing words.
I love reading them, hearing them, thinking them. But most of all: I love feeling them.
Writing is one of those feeling things, for me. Reading also. And even though books have been a huge presence in my life for quite some time, it wasn’t until studying creative writing at university that I really started to think about words, and how they function in our lives.
Truly. I was stunned. How was it that something as simple as word choice could completely change the meaning of a sentence? And did you know that removing a word could enhance a sentence, rather than detract from it? I mean. What magic is that!
And so. I thought— why not dissect a word during the darling blog of May? Pick a word; play with it. Search for the magic hidden in its guts and sprinkle that magic around so all of you can share some too. Wouldn’t that be darling?
Yes! Let’s do it! And, in honour of the darling blog of May, the lucky word that will be chopped in half and gutted will be…
Darling. (Ha! I bet you didn’t see that one coming.)
Dar-ling.
The start of the word is a little bit ugly, isn’t it? (My Australian accent thinks so, anyway). To me, DAR drops off the tongue like a rock that’s just been lobbed into the ocean. It’s clunky. And not at all graceful.
But.
If we look at the end of the word—the LING sound—can you hear how it flings itself off the tongue? Isn’t-that-cool? It sounds like a lovely little handbell on a hotel countertop, one you could ring and ring all day just to hear the tinkling goodness of its song.
To me, it’s the LING part of darling that makes the word chime. It’s the LING that makes the word sing.
Darling.
Darling.
See? Pretty, isn’t it?
Then there’s the deeper stuff of words, the emotions that naturally rise from a word because of how we’ve heard it used before. Take darling, for example. We’ve all heard it said a thousand times, and usually, it’s said with a deep puff of love. It makes sense that when we hear the word darling, we will feel nice.
Of course, the word darling doesn’t always bring in all the good feels. Mums? Dads? I’ll bet you’ll agree. The word darling can be something of a double-edged sword when it comes to using it on our precious little cherubs. At least, it is in my house.
Example 1. ‘Darling. Please. Get down off the TOP rung of the ladder. For the HUNDRETH time.’
Example 2. ‘Darling. You are so many different kinds of lovely. Never change.’
How epic is that. ONE word. So many meanings.
So! We come to the end of my little nerd fest. I hope you forgive me for putting you through all that, especially if you’re not a big reader or writer. Then again, it is all a part of this little darling month of mine—pushing the boundaries of darling, seeing just how much this little word has to give.
I think it gives an awful lot. I so hope you agree. xx
The challenge is on…and I shout YES.
I accept.
A blog a day. For one whole month.
One whole month of getting to know this little home I’m building.
A whole month of getting to know all of you!
Yep. It’ll be one whole month of wonderful. One whole month of…ice-cold panic.
ICE. COLD. PANIC.
Goodness me. Is that my heartbeat?
Oh, dear.
Just a moment. Sorry. Just breathing for a bit. One cat-and-dog. Two cat-and-dog. Three.
Okay! Where was I?
Ah, yes.
This little idea of mine: The Darling Blog of May.
Every day in May, I plan to write a blog post hovering around the theme DARLING, and the rules are…there are no rules.
I might write about the word darling.
I might write about a darling day, or moment, book or song.
I might write about a darling person, a darling thing.
A darling everything. A darling nothing.
There are no rules.
And thank goodness for that because I’ll need plenty of room to think outside my little box of darling. (There are a LOT of days in May, you know.)
SO.
That’s my idea, and this is my invitation to you:
Come on in!
Every day. One day. I’ll be here.
It’ll be nice!
No. Scratch that. It’ll be more than nice.
It’ll be darling.
brooke-cutler.com 