My Mission Statement

I write to serve, to unite, to educate. I write to share literature and flesh out ideas that may be of interest to others. I write to document an emotion, experience, or a blip in time. My mission is to write in such a way that the reader is reminded that we can find humor in all situations. It's one of the great blessings of life.


Friday, October 1, 2010

Plenty of writing ideas after a day with children

Due to the flooding in eastern North Carolina, all the children were home today. The house was full and fun, kids in and out, cooking strange things, and even a bit of company in the afternoon. My ED left for Happening, a youth retreat, one son's friend lost a tooth, my OS beat the YS in basketball, nothing really huge going on. As I look back over the day, aside from the company who stopped by, I really don't know what I did today. But I know what I didn't do--write. And it's funny because writing has become almost like brushing my teeth--I definitely notice when I don't do it. Instead of my teeth getting fuzzy, my brain gets a little fuzzy. It's like I've trained myself to expel certain amounts of thought and emotion every day, and if I don't, things get clogged up. Not to be gross, but kind of like if I didn't go to the bathroom all day. I'm just not comfortable.

But at the same time, I don't want to miss any of this growing up stuff, either. I feel the time passing at warp speed already. I have been around long enough to know how precious these days are. So instead of worrying about not writing, I'm going to try and farm some material from the day's events. That way, my neurotic self can relax and know I did something. Plus, it's a way of reliving the best parts of the day. So here are some writing ideas based on the events of the day:
*what kids act like after being cooped up for DAYS without a break in the rain
*how kids react the MOMENT they find out they don't have to go to school
*how kids can eat breakfast for an hour
*how some kids get left out
*how somebody always gets hurt
*how exciting it is to lose a tooth
*what a fantastic fort can be made with a little time, patience and ingenuity (and the tv off!)
*watching the towns around us on the news as they rescue people and animals from the flooding, and evacuate homes
All of these things are intense emotional reactions and experiences for the kids, and I want to remember each of those little moments and feelings and reactions. Who knows when I might need them on paper?

Have a wonderful week-end.

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