I like to think that sometimes life is too hectic to allow time for blogging. That makes it NOT my fault that I have not made a new post since July 29. I like to think that so much is going on, what with the new grandson and all, that I "just don't have the time" to write a post. But then I hear someone say everyone has enough time to do the things they want to do (at least up to a point). "Your priorities are not in line," someone else says, or you would blog without fail, if you want to be a blogger.
That is true for whatever it is a person WANTS to do, but ends up not doing. Life happens. I guess the question is "does one let life be a stopper of any kind, even a blog-stopper?" I have to confess (well, since everyone can see it, I might as well) that I did let all the things going on in my life, at my job, and in the lives of my friends, become a blog-stopper. The reality is that I let blogging fall down my list of priorities. It turns out, in fact, that there are still twenty-four hours in a day, and seven days in a week. Yes, different things may be happening, but all these things still happen within the same twenty-four hours I have always had between sunrise one morning and sunrise the next morning. I am sure, looking back, that I could have found time to write at least one blog in the past week, but what a roller coaster ride the past few days have been!
Only a few weeks ago my second grandchild come into this world, and this time with much less drama and danger than did my sweet Baby Baby (my granddaughter). I have not been able to spend as much time with my new little boy as I wanted, but that is only because so many other people want to spend time with him, too, including (believe it or not!) his parents. Baby Baby has had to adjust, but she loves her little brother, especially after having decided that he cannot "go back into Mommy's tummy." So I have double the grand kids I had just a few days ago. And what a handsome guy he is.
But life is a roller coaster ride, and sometimes it is not such a fun ride. Just a few days after my grandson was born, I learned that a friend of mine was facing the death of his older brother. My friend had been caring for his older brother and spending as much time with him as possible because it had become apparent that this man had only days to live, if not hours. My friend left his brother for the night, but before he had could reach his home, my friend received a call informing him that his daughter had just been killed in a traffic accident. Still reeling from this devastating news the next morning, this friend received a call that his brother had passed away. My friend had to bear this double-cross of losing two of his closest loved ones in less than a twenty-four hour span. But he was both strong and had the loving support of his family and friends to help through this terrible time.
During this same weekend I myself received word of the passing of one of my favorite uncles. He was a member of the family by marriage, but was loved by our family as if he had been born into it. The funeral was planned for the middle of the coming week, and I was determined to be there. I left work the evening before the funeral, packed, and drove the three hundred or so miles to my mother's house. The next morning she and I gathered with our family to say a final goodbye to this good man. This was also my mother's birthday, so there was an intense mixture of sadness and joy all wrapped into a single evening and half the next day. I had a late lunch with Mom and my brother and sister, then it was time to get back on the road, a flash trip back to West Texas.
Back at work the next day, I learned that a new employee I desperately needed would not be coming to work after all, and I would still be short staffed. Not a tragedy on the magnitude anywhere approaching the loss of a loved one, of course, but it made for a nervous time. I would have to cover a lot of time for the empty position, as well as continually juggle the schedule so that either I or one of the workers would be available twenty-four seven. Basically, if I was not sleeping I was at work. And of if not one of those two, then with the grandchildren.
Even with all of the busy -ness and the emotional upheaval, the days still contained twenty-four hours. I found time to distract my mind, but not time to put together a string of thoughts to make a blog post. Staring at a computer all day and a flat screen television at night until I could not hold my eyes open was certainly not conducive to any kind of "real" thinking or creativity. But the past few days I found writing a blog to be quite challenging when I could just "chill" into the night. I remember one of my writing "heroes," Louis L'Amour, said " I could sit in the middle of Sunset Boulevard and write with my typewriter on my knees. Temperamental I am not." Not so for me. I have to be in "the zone" for my creative juices to flow.
Now I am back into a sort of regular routine again, but really, it should not matter whether I am in a routine or not, blogging, or writing anything, should come natural to me and should be a high priority activity. There are so many interesting things, people, activities, events, historical or scientific points of interest, so many wonderful things happening in the world, that topics are inexhaustible. But one has to keep his priorities in mind, and choose to do things each day that he wants to do. There may never be a more perfect time each day to write, or whatever one enjoys doing, than to just do it right now. Yes, life will always keep coming, and will always throw a curve. The roller coaster will always be an up and down, twisting turning adventure of a ride...but hopefully life will not always be a blog-stopper for me. In fact it occurs to me...life's roller coaster ride should not stop the blog...it should fuel the blog and fire the story into life...
So to paraphrase...I will keep calm...and blog on...
That is true for whatever it is a person WANTS to do, but ends up not doing. Life happens. I guess the question is "does one let life be a stopper of any kind, even a blog-stopper?" I have to confess (well, since everyone can see it, I might as well) that I did let all the things going on in my life, at my job, and in the lives of my friends, become a blog-stopper. The reality is that I let blogging fall down my list of priorities. It turns out, in fact, that there are still twenty-four hours in a day, and seven days in a week. Yes, different things may be happening, but all these things still happen within the same twenty-four hours I have always had between sunrise one morning and sunrise the next morning. I am sure, looking back, that I could have found time to write at least one blog in the past week, but what a roller coaster ride the past few days have been!
Only a few weeks ago my second grandchild come into this world, and this time with much less drama and danger than did my sweet Baby Baby (my granddaughter). I have not been able to spend as much time with my new little boy as I wanted, but that is only because so many other people want to spend time with him, too, including (believe it or not!) his parents. Baby Baby has had to adjust, but she loves her little brother, especially after having decided that he cannot "go back into Mommy's tummy." So I have double the grand kids I had just a few days ago. And what a handsome guy he is.
But life is a roller coaster ride, and sometimes it is not such a fun ride. Just a few days after my grandson was born, I learned that a friend of mine was facing the death of his older brother. My friend had been caring for his older brother and spending as much time with him as possible because it had become apparent that this man had only days to live, if not hours. My friend left his brother for the night, but before he had could reach his home, my friend received a call informing him that his daughter had just been killed in a traffic accident. Still reeling from this devastating news the next morning, this friend received a call that his brother had passed away. My friend had to bear this double-cross of losing two of his closest loved ones in less than a twenty-four hour span. But he was both strong and had the loving support of his family and friends to help through this terrible time.
During this same weekend I myself received word of the passing of one of my favorite uncles. He was a member of the family by marriage, but was loved by our family as if he had been born into it. The funeral was planned for the middle of the coming week, and I was determined to be there. I left work the evening before the funeral, packed, and drove the three hundred or so miles to my mother's house. The next morning she and I gathered with our family to say a final goodbye to this good man. This was also my mother's birthday, so there was an intense mixture of sadness and joy all wrapped into a single evening and half the next day. I had a late lunch with Mom and my brother and sister, then it was time to get back on the road, a flash trip back to West Texas.
Back at work the next day, I learned that a new employee I desperately needed would not be coming to work after all, and I would still be short staffed. Not a tragedy on the magnitude anywhere approaching the loss of a loved one, of course, but it made for a nervous time. I would have to cover a lot of time for the empty position, as well as continually juggle the schedule so that either I or one of the workers would be available twenty-four seven. Basically, if I was not sleeping I was at work. And of if not one of those two, then with the grandchildren.
Even with all of the busy -ness and the emotional upheaval, the days still contained twenty-four hours. I found time to distract my mind, but not time to put together a string of thoughts to make a blog post. Staring at a computer all day and a flat screen television at night until I could not hold my eyes open was certainly not conducive to any kind of "real" thinking or creativity. But the past few days I found writing a blog to be quite challenging when I could just "chill" into the night. I remember one of my writing "heroes," Louis L'Amour, said " I could sit in the middle of Sunset Boulevard and write with my typewriter on my knees. Temperamental I am not." Not so for me. I have to be in "the zone" for my creative juices to flow.
Now I am back into a sort of regular routine again, but really, it should not matter whether I am in a routine or not, blogging, or writing anything, should come natural to me and should be a high priority activity. There are so many interesting things, people, activities, events, historical or scientific points of interest, so many wonderful things happening in the world, that topics are inexhaustible. But one has to keep his priorities in mind, and choose to do things each day that he wants to do. There may never be a more perfect time each day to write, or whatever one enjoys doing, than to just do it right now. Yes, life will always keep coming, and will always throw a curve. The roller coaster will always be an up and down, twisting turning adventure of a ride...but hopefully life will not always be a blog-stopper for me. In fact it occurs to me...life's roller coaster ride should not stop the blog...it should fuel the blog and fire the story into life...
So to paraphrase...I will keep calm...and blog on...
