Fast Food and Whole Food

Yesterday I ate cherries and they made my stomach feel terrible. I was bloated, full of gas, and uncomfortable.

Today, however, I ate a Chic Fil-A sandwich. My stomach feels fine.

Conclusion: Fast food is good for you. Whole foods are bad. Eat more fried chicken sandwiches! LOL


Olivia McGuire

I Want to Be Her

I want to be her
the girl with the thick shiny hair
with pretty skin
 health and youth
She rides her bicycle with her toned legs
She hikes mountains in her hiking boots
and mid rift tops
She is confident and beautiful
 vibrant, kind, and helpful
I want to be her
and I think of her so often
and what she does not know
That one day she'll grow older like me
with a life she didn't plan or certainly want
but here she is
she is me
over twenty years later
and she's none of those things she used to be



Olivia McGuire

Staying Away

Sometimes you stay away from

certain people

not because you're still angry

or not because you don't love them,

but because you're tired of them

disappointing you.

Olivia McGuire

Lupus Symbols

 a butterfly, a wolf,

 and a warrior 

all symbolize someone with lupus

a butterfly because she is 

both beautiful and fragile

a wolf because she is fierce

and a warrior 

because she is a brave fighter

Olivia McGuire

Cherish

 Back in college I knew this guy who was a friend of a friend. One night a group of us got together, went to the boardwalk and had a really good time. He gave me a piggyback ride running wild with me down the beach. I had had a bad breakup with someone that I was in love with and it was wonderful feeling pretty again and having the attention of this good looking guy. The four of us stayed up all night at my friend's condo and laughed and joked around. While the other two friends fell asleep, he and I sneaked out hand and hand and went down to the beach to watch the sunrise. I leaned my back against his chest and he held me. It all felt really natural. And we just talked about life and love and the universe. He was deeply philosophical without being an asshole about it. He was my cup of tea. We just felt--connected-- to one another. It never turned into anything more than that evening and watching that sunrise; we never even kissed. Several years later while I was happily married he was a muse in a novel I was working on. He and I only had that moment in time, yet he and I have this indelible memory, a memory I never had with anyone else. Don't get me wrong my ex and I went to the beach and we have a million memories . Even the guy that broke my heart in college gave me a lot of great memories. But-- this guy-- who wasn't even my friend shared a moment with me unlike any other and it's still with me. I saw his profile picture recently and honestly he looks terrific. He looks like he did back then just a little older but still just as trim. I seriously considered reaching out to him because his status says he's single. But I've decided against it because I had sent him a friend request several years ago and he never responded. So maybe that moment didn't mean as much to him as it did to me. Besides, I'm Christian now and would like very much to find someone like minded and I don't know where he stands on religion and faith. Plus being a Christian I want to wait on God and his timing and his best. If this guy is for me, we'll run into each other or he'll find me. It won't be me finding him. But for now I can reflect on that memory, cherish it, and wallow in its goodness and purity. It was a little bit of magic. And if he's not the one, I have to trust God to give me more magical moments in my life, but with the person I'm meant to be with.

                                                           

             Olivia McGuire 

One Day

One day I will wake up with a new body,

a body that is strong and free of disease.

And all my parts that have been wrecked by 

illness will be healed.

I will be able to walk without being winded

or getting tired or feeling pain.

I will have energy,

energy to hike mountains

and energy to dance the night away.

And my legs will be normal and strong

strong enough for me to get on the ground,

 so I can lie and look at the blue sky

All my organs will function perfectly

never keeping me from travel
 or pursuing my dreams.

One day I will wake up

and be whole.

 It just may not be in this life.

Olivia McGuire

Half-Ass

Don't do anything half-ass.

Be whole-ass.

Olivia McGuire

Flowers for Friends

I wish I could by flowers

for all the wonderful single women I know 

on Valentine's Day,

but I'm not that rich. 

Olivia McGuire

Being Single

Being single isn't all bad.
In fact it's kind of liberating.
Your mood isn't dependent
whether you've heard from someone or not.
You have no one to answer to
and can go out with your friends without having to text
or call someone to let them know when you're coming home.
You're in control of your finances and
don't have to worry about someone else wracking up debt.
You don't feel obligated to have sex when you're tired or just not in the mood.
There's no need to worry what someone thinks of you naked.
You don't  have to deal with jealosy--yours--or theirs.

Nor worry if that person is there to stay.

I love being single.
So why do I often wish I weren't?



Olivia McGuire

Experiencing Bigotry

During the 70's at the age of three my mom and I were new to this country. My Filipino father had brought us over from the Philippines. We didn't have a car at first and when my mom and I wanted to go out we simply walked to the shopping center nearby while my dad was at work. One of the stores we'd frequent was People's Drug. Mom would sometimes treat us to a meal or a piece of pie at the counter. Once when we sat down next to a much older man, he looked at us with contempt most likely because we weren't white or like him; and mind you I was an adorable little girl that many fawned over. I don't actually remember the incident, but my mother has brought it up through the years. This bigoted man actually got up--and moved. How sad that not even a cute little toddler could warm this man's heart. And little did that man know that my father was serving the United States Navy and was a Vietnam  Vet. My father had brought us here so we could have a better  life, the American Dream, just like that man's ancestors did. We lived in Portsmouth, Virginia and in Navy housing at the time. I have much fondness of those places and time in spite of what happened and any racism I encountered later. I was my daddy's girl and my mother's too. And together along with my brother we made a life here in Virginia.

Olivia McGuire

Author's Note
My father died several years later from cancer when I was just ten. I am a published author and have been published in Medical Literary Messenger, The Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazzette, and Cafe Eighties.

I Am Made

i am made up of blood and flesh

heart and soul

brains and beauty

assets and faults

magic and reality

love and hate

dust and stars 

Olivia McGuire

snow haiku

snowdrifts through the night
can hear icicles breaking
the world seems at peace


Olivia McGuire