It's amazing how many pieces or blog posts I've written over the last year or so...truly amazing I tell you but you have no cause to believe me. Why should you? I haven't posted a darn thing in all that time. I write really great stuff. Too bad it stays in my head. Today I've had about 3 hours of free time in which I could have done any number of things, writing included but I spent about 2 of those hours procratinating or finding elswhere to focus. The expereince is very similar to the typical Saturday night antics I engage in while working on Sunday's sermon. It's remarkable how all of a sudden all kinds of things need to get done "right now" instead of doing any actual writing. I know this is not uncommon but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. I really wonder what the hold up is, the obstacle that prevents me from doing what I say it is I want to do - which is write.
Oh well..it's not that there's a lack of things to write about. The animals provide many opportunities for me to create the written picture of life here on the farm but once I get in the house, the inspiration drains away and I end up doing anything else but writing. I did read somewhere that anyone can write when inspired...the trick is to writing even when there's no inspiration around. This is work no question about it but so maybe that' my issue. It's work and although I enjoy "having written" as I think Dorothy Parker said, writing is something else.
Red letter day here on the farm. The old septic system is gone and a new tank was just installed. This is very good news. According the the man who did the work it looked like it hadn't been pumped out or replaced since the 1960's. I have no doubt about that...heaven knows the stench made the case for it having been quite a while. Mama Jo is very happy. Work seems to be progressing around here. It goes by fits and starts. I have a fit and Dave starts working is the basic formula. It's not that he sits around twiddling his thumbs. Serving 2 congregations keeps him pretty busy and he was definitely sidetracked whe he got hit with the flu bug or whatever that horrible experience was. I got sick for 5 days - very very sick but then got over it. Dave got sick and after a month - 5 weeks, it seems as if the bug has given up and gone elsewhere...or just succumbed to its own life and death cycle. That was a lot of time that he could have been doing things. But we're not going to revisit that. He has started work on the upstairs bathroom and it will be completed this year. Three and half years after pulling out the tub, toilet and sink. But other things had to be taken care of ....mainly the foster kids. They kept us going in a whole 'nother universe but after 3 years of kids in and out of the hosue - we're back to just us two and our son who helps out around here. Once or twice a month, one of our "kids" comes to hang out and have some one on one attention in order to have some space which is working out well. Having been a full-time foster parent was something I'd always wanted to do and Dave eventually agreed but I came to realize that there are reasons for the seasons of life and right now the only kid I really want to spend time with is our new grandson - who is all of 3 months old. There is nothing like being a grandparent and I don't even get to spend that much time with him....since he and his parents are 3 hours away but it doesn't matter. I've entered into a new community - one which is just thrilling.
As I think about any number of things this thought keeps recurring...I wish Erma Bombeck was still with us. She was so able to bring humor to life's not always humourous moments as she shared with her readers. I started reading her columns when I was very young - probably a teen. She could mae me laugh out loud even though I really had no common ground with her at that time. While she wrote about being a parent and facing the fact of aging - I was still in the "life will last forever" phase of my life yet that's how good she was. She told funny stories and whether or not one could identify with the details, we could all identify with the humor. I miss Erma. I need her funny reflections on what going through menopause is like and what's it's like to be closer to the end of one's life than the beginning. Her life was cut short no question. She had to face that earlier in the cycle rather than later. She did that well too - finding ways to share what living with cancer was like - for her...including finding the humor in a very dark place. I miss her...
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