So this is what a 100th blog post feels like!
Four
years ago when I started this blog, I had no idea that I’d have enough to write
about to make it this far. It was all an experiment to work on my writing
skills and to improve as a story teller.
I’ve written these posts in many spots. I started out on
an antique hallway desk that was leftover from my first attempt at marriage. I’d
sat in a refurnished chair my Papa used in his many wheeling and dealings. The table
was actually one of those narrow deals better suited for hallway decoration
rather than function because I couldn’t afford a real desk so it served the
purpose for writing and getting through me my Masters in Special Education. Due to my own non-compliance, my kidney
disease had worsened and I was got pretty bad off. Somewhere through all of
this, I got my head out of my own ass and pulled myself out of a very dark and
deep hole to find a very bright world that was always there waiting on me.
I moved on to a very comfy office chair placed
next to the “falcon”, my NX stage dialysis cycler. The chair was courtesy of
some very silly governmental waste and a very good friend whom I do not see
often enough but that becomes the case as we all get older. I wrote on a lap
board while hooked up to my cycler in three and half hour periods. It was
probably my most productive time because I was a captive audience to my
machine.
It
was frustrating to sit there because I had begun to return to the land of the
living. Being a shut in for a few years left me wanting to leave the house and
do things and see people. Through the nudging of my roommate and E-Harmony, I
also met a very special lady with two outstanding kids.
By the time I switched to nocturnal dialysis and had my
afternoons back, I was married to that special lady and those awesome kids were
running rampant in my very lucky life. The Ol’ Geek Hut was no longer a
bachelor pad but a real home for a family. I began to write on my side of the
bed in snatches and when I had the time. I also noticed I began to be less
frequent in posts. Between teaching and
dealing with dialysis, I had to deal with carlines, drop off/pick up karate,
art club, band stuff, summer camps, doctor appmts. Weekends were filled with
going to the beach, and picnics at Forsyth. Life was busy and it still remains quite
full. I love it.
 |
| These books make a lot of sense now. |
Nowadays I still write a little on my side of the bed but
the best days are when I sit on our new living room couch (which is a whole
other story involving family homesteads, meth labs and a pet goat that gets
kidnapped) while I tap out whatever hits me on my coffee table that was also an
old wooden ships door. I have to pick my times carefully because that’s also
where the flat screen and my beloved Lucille stays.
(Lucille is the X-box).
Writing in the main family room can be a bit tricky but we seem to work it out.
It’s become my favorite time because when I write in the
living room, I get to zone in my little writing world but I also feel connected
to the whole house where my family are doing their own thing.
 |
| The 11th Dr. is short. |
Jude
is either reading a stack of comic book or playing with his massive Lego
collection in his room which is sure to leave stray pieces for my bare feet to
find later. My teenage daughter, Roni,
has created her own world devoid of adults and our on-going lameness in her
room filled with music from Panic at the Disco and her own life sized Dr. Who
(Matt Smith).
And
then there is Kim, my wife. Kim is the glue that holds all this very lucky life
I lead together. At any given point, my wife is whipping something together in
the kitchen for us to eat later, working on a story for her reporter job at the
paper, or anything left out in front of her that needs doing, fixing, mending,
or a hug.
But
the very best days of writing on the couch is while I’m trying to figure out
some way to tie my post together, I hear the tapping of another key board in
the dining room. The kids have been gone all summer with their father so Kim
and I have both adopted our own work spaces to work at. While I have staked out
the living, room, she’s taken over the kitchen table to work on her book and
sometimes her very awesome blog.
See
when we met over three years ago we both had just started out on our writing
path. From the start, Kim always talked about writing her own book on dealing
with her past and overcoming the obstacles. For a while, she had stopped but
over the past year, Kim has been working hard revising and adding to it. And it
thrills me to no end.
I
know this is going to be a great book and it’s not just because I love this
woman so much anything she does. She is a very talented and honest writer which
is a rare combination in today’s writing market. To make it a trifecta, she is
a true storyteller though she refuses to admit to it because Kim is also pretty
shy until you get to know her.
Reading
anything Kim writes not only makes me proud but it also spurs me on because I
get it. Writing is not something to be
done to pass the time, or to entertain, or even to get digs in someone who has
wronged you or your family. It’s just something that is inside that has to get
out.
See
everybody has something in them that has to get out. For people like my father-in-law,
it’s a painting or a drawing. For my buddy, Dave, it’s music. But for people
like Kim and myself, it’s a story where writing is the medium we’ve chosen.
It
makes me happy to hear my wife tapping away on her worn laptop because I know
she is getting closer to her goal of getting that story out and sharing it with
the world. She doesn’t write because she wants to. She writes because she has
to.
Kim
is lucky because she has figured out what it is that she has to say. I’m not there
yet but I know it’s coming because it’s something I dwell upon almost every
single day. Until then I write and keep at it until I get my ideas refined into
whatever story that I need to tell. The one thing I’ve learned about this blog is
that I have the freedom to do whatever I please and I find relevant. So pop in
your favorite mix tape, sit back relax and let’s hit the road and see where we
end up
I’m
up for another 100. How about you?
No comments:
Post a Comment