Prompt #79 Surprise!

Surprises are a part of life whether you love them or hate them. Some surprises are planned by well-meaning loved ones. We offer gifts wrapped. We jump out at one another from behind furniture in unlit rooms after days of cryptic talk and avoidance. We hide engagement rings and stage elaborate and theatrical events all to make a moment unforgettable. Sometimes we play pranks on each other some mean-spirited, some funny, some juvenile pleas for affection. Even prearranged surprises can go awry for better or worse.

Sometimes people surprise us by changing or expressing a view we’d not anticipated. Sometimes life surprises us. Some of these surprises are positive winning the lottery, getting pregnant after years of unsuccessful attempts, the remission of a long-standing seemingly indomitable disease. Some of these surprises are unwanted an unexpected illness, a loss of employment, car problems.

Surprises teach us a lot about ourselves because they force us to wake up, stand up, grow up, let go. They invoke emotional responses laughter, tears of joy, tears of remorse, shrieks of terror, shrieks of delight. Surprises penetrate our armor. As writers we take advantage of surprise tactics to get a reaction from our readers plot twists, strongly worded/antagonistic declarations, grotesque metaphors and so on.

For this week’s prompt you can either attempt to “shock” your readers or you can write about the theme itself. Surprises are on my mind lately because Isadora just had a birthday and mine is one the way.