Writing

Not sure if I will post this or not. But I just have to write it down. When I was in about 7th or 8th grade I had an English teacher that I thought was really nice. She was a little Irish woman with an accent. Every St. Patrick’s Day she would have a big roll of paper on the door to her class room. With a leprechaun and the word “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” over his head. As I look back I guess I should have taken it as a complement, she gave me an F on a book report. Under the big RED F were the words “Are these your words? Or did you just copy them!” Being a teenage know it all I took the paper crumpled it and tossed it. I wouldn’t have given her the satisfaction of crying in front of her. So I shelved my writing for over 40 years. Yes, the words were my own.

I had a friend from about that same period that I caught up with on FaceBook. It was a very low point in my life. I am not going into all the details here. Just know that life sucked. The last straw was when a laptop computer my son had given me finally bit the big one! Depressed no computer, I finally talked my older brother into hooking up my cable for me. Strange I thought I said I wasn’t going into all the details here – well I guess I did! When I called my brother to ask if he could do it for me I rattled in his ear about how boring it was. How my computer blew up, etc. After listening to me for a while he just asked “do you have a library?” I am an idiot…Haxtun had a library! for more of those stories look into my blog. Any way one of the sessions I had on line I mentioned that I was having to go to the library to use the computer. I don’t care if you believe in God or not, I do and it’s my blog! I received a message via FaceBook asking what was my favorite color. Purple was my answer. Then came a question about my address in Haxtun. I sent that information also. I was just happy to have a conversation with somebody!! About a week later I received a package, in it was the most amazing gift I had ever received. It was a purple tablet. My friend Barb sent me a tablet. I hadn’t seen her in over 40 years and she sent me such a gift.  It was such a great gift I told her I was sending it back. Well, then I opened it – just to get an address to send it back you understand. I was hooked. It had a keyboard and I already had the internet it came with my phone service. I wanted to send it back, really!! But then it became my link to the “real” world… scary but real. I then used the tablet to start writing a book that I had started eons ago. Guess what? The tablet never got returned. But, you knew that didn’t you? When I finally fessed up that I really wanted to keep it. Barb said “God told me to send it to you!” I may not see God all the time. I may not know that he is there, but God is always with me. Friends are God’s messengers just as angels, family and even some really bad encounters. They are all the work of God. My friend Anna keeps her wings hidden. But just like Barb she is an angel. I have known her longer than Barb and she is a little older, but a friend to the bone. She recently had her husband pass. She has been a rock for so many events in my life. My son moved back to Denver area, he is making it but asked if he might be able to visit the food bank that Anna helps with. She said that no problem. Yes, the food bank became very important after Dad passed and then Mom it was great knowing that the food bank was there.

I almost forgot the reason I started writing this post. I get a little forgetful in my old age – that s why I am putting all of this stuff in writing so when I am 100 or more I will be able to read it and enjoy it all over again. When one persons opinion can shoot you down, it takes just one good opinion to raise you back up again. My big brother Ron has been a rock all of our lives really, but he has stepped it up lately. (remind me to write about my math class someday!) I was talking to him and I mentioned that I really didn’t know what to do about a contest I was thinking of entering. I sent him what I had and asked him his ideas on it. One part of our conversation went like this “I don’t really know if I should finish the novella or just give it up?” The question had a definite plea for encouragement. I don’t think he realized what he said. I will never forget it! “Well, you need to do some more research, good writers like you need to make sure of your research.” I can tell you the rest of the day I was on cloud 9 or maybe even cloud 10!! He called me a good writer!! Even with his hint that my research wasn’t up to snuff. He called me a good writer!! MY BROTHER!! The kid who hit me on the head with a sledge hammer (yep another story in there!).  You know you are loved when people, such as I have in my life, act as God’s messengers. They may not always take me in the direction I want, mostly the way I don’t want. God only knows where I will end up. And that is just fine with me.