I've only been thrown off a horse once. Well, twice, if you count my friend Frances' 8th birthday party where they had a mangy pony on a rope. I fell off within minutes but proceeded to get right back on. If there is one thing I am good at, it is perseverance. I simply don't give up once I get an idea into my head.
Though this drives my husband crazy at times, I think it is a good thing to want something and want it badly enough to keep working even when you feel like quitting. Most of my life has been this way. Not much has come easily but it has been beautiful when it finally arrived.
Even my writing. People who read my "Tea & Simplicity" columns way back when they were published in the Hamilton/Morrisville Tribune in Central New York (2006-2008) used to stop me on the sidewalk or in the grocery store and tell me how much they enjoyed the week's piece. They'd tell me it reminded them of their siblings, or of their flower garden, or that they weren't prone to getting all teary-eyed and such but that the plain story of love made them cry. Sometimes the topic would strike me hard and then I had to pay attention and start writing it all down as it avalanched out of my brain. Other times, it was hard work like squeezing the last bit of toothpaste out of a tube when you have an important meeting to go to and no spare tube on hand. Either way, whether easy or hard, I felt a satisfaction at knowing I'd strung together a series of words that not only affected me, but affected others as well.
Sometimes even the things you are reasonably good at will take their time coming. I stopped writing the weekly column in 2008 and I still miss it like a friend who's moved away. I know where they are, I can call any time, but I can't wish them here with me. So I've decided to make a new friend, in the form of this blog. My goal is to write one post each week, on Fridays, just like I used to do with those columns. Now, we know what happens when I get an idea in my head...
