Snotcicles

Wanting to up my skill level of writing, I have been reading some very interesting books on how to do that and some have encouraged me to just practice writing.  One even lists subjects in which to touch on in order to be able to write about just about anything.  One of the subjects being “snot.”

After being as eloquent as I could about snot, I was telling my beloved about the exercise and he looked at me and said, “Did you write about snotsicles?”  No, I had forgotten all about having to brave cold weather and having all of the body fluids freeze solid.

Going back to my days of growing up in North Dakota, I remember several days of walking to school when it was so cold that I could hardly breathe.  I was so bundled up that it was hard to walk and still I was cold. Even the scarf that was wrapped around my head, throat and mouth had frozen. 

In a fit of frustration, when I got to school, I reached up and swiped my hand under my nose and inadvertently broke off a snotsicle and took nose hairs, skin and built up snot.  Ouch!  Now, I am bleeding half frozen blood.  Yuck!

Since most of my memories of growing up are of being cold in the winter and being bitten by mosquitoes in the summer, I am delighted that I now live in the south and we only have several weeks when it is cold and certainly nothing like the snotsicle weather of North Dakota.  I have traded mosquitoes for other more disgusting bugs that I don’t even want to know what they are called.  Everyone says we need a “hard freeze” to kill the bugs. 

Haven’t decided whether the trade of snotsicles are worth the bugs or not but I truly love where I live now.  

Back to the Bridge

Last year, during the month of May, while on a road trip, we found a bridge for sale in the middle of nowhere, out in a field.  Well, on another trip, we passed by the bridge, again.  It is still for sale. 

This time, I wanted to get the phone number and call to find out how much, what was it intended for, and why is it for sale now. 

Well, shoot!  The banner sign on it is torn to shreds and so the phone number isn’t visible from the road.  But for those of you who are interested, it is between mile marker 68 and 69 going south on 281 on the right hand side of the road. 

Again, this bridge stuff got me to thinking…if I wanted a bridge…how would I go about getting one?  Do you find them in the “want ads,” or on Craig’s list or do you have to start from scratch and find “bridge plans” on the internet.

That got me to thinking and searching…the internet is filled with old bridge plans that go from being historic to modern.  Do you want a garden bridge, swimming pool bridges, stream bridges, river bridges or larger?  Again the rule is, you need to decide what kind of bridge you need before you go searching.  Otherwise, you can get “lost” in the morass of information available on bridges.

Well, if I can’t find the bridge I want, I can always write a song, a poem or another essay on “Bridge for Sale.”

Looking for the Good

One of the hardest challenges I have ever had to take on was looking for the blessing or finding the good during the times of great stress or being overwhelmed with work.  I know intellectually that when something doesn’t happen, it is because something better is coming.  But while I am in the thick of it, it is hard to trust, to know that life is always good or that the journey is one of joy.

One of my teachers always said to grow through your biggest challenges and to make sense and meaning out of the obstacles you face.  When life is going good, meaning is easy to discern.  It is when it is not going to well, that is when the rubber hits the floor. 

The headline in one of my magazines this week was, “It’s Your Journal, so write in it.”  My first sentence was that I know that I have inner resources that I haven’t even touched and that maybe this is the time when I can tap into the reserves of who and what I am.  I also know that the strength is there…I just have to remember to draw upon my spirit within as I look at the bigger picture. 

What is my bigger picture?  I can certainly use this time to redefine and get use to doing something very different.  A definition of discipline, according to David Campbell, is “remembering what you want.”  What do I want?  Time to get back to basics and remember what it is that is important to me.

Even though I may have lost sight of my bigger picture, I can certainly remember to look for and find my blessing and my good.  Even if it is only to know that all I accomplished this day was getting this blog written and published.