13: A Big Enough Umbrella
1. My 4-year old grandson Liam has told some wild tales that sometimes involve imaginary friends. He also makes comments about life that seem beyond his years. When I ask him how he knows what he knows, he says, “God tells me things.”
2. I try to explain to his 7 year old brother Bryce that Liam is not lying but speaking poetically from his imagination.
3. Because of his scrappy bull-in a-china-shop ways, we used to call Liam “Bam Bam,” but now we call him Shaman.
4. “Everyone should have a story written about them when they are 80,” I said to Joe over the weekend while working on a story about an 80 year old woman hunter who built a hunting stand on her property with a wheelchair ramp for the handicapped.
5. The Paradox: Too often, I’m like a car out of gas, planning for trips that I don’t have the energy to take. I’d like to enjoy being idle, but I’m intimidated by a looming sense of dead end. I’m tired and don’t want to write, but writing is what makes me feel better.
6. When THIS poem of mine recently appeared in the Floyd County Moonshine Literary Journal, I read it aloud to see how it sounded and realized that I didn’t need the last line. I was about to delete it from the poem when I realized that, although it didn’t need to be read aloud, it needed to be seen. So, what do you do with a line in poem that needs to be seen but not read?
7. I just survived a week of bronchitis and a week of rain with a couple of days with no power.
8. It was also a week of pomp, pope and circumstance that made John Boehner cry and gave us all some good reminders about serving the poor and each other, facing up to climate change, guarding against fundamentalism (seeing things as black or white), and acknowledging the blood on our hands as the number one arms trader in the world.
9. Although I think it’s a good sign that Boehner resigned because he didn’t want to fight the far-right obstructionist element in his party anymore, I would have rather he stood up to them than get out of their way.
10. Oh, no. It just started raining again and our local weather man keeps saying, “Turn around. Don’t drown.” One Facebook friend posted a sign that said, “Noah Called.” Another said, “Anybody got a snorkel?”
11. I just had to click on THIS article because of the quirky title, “John Boehner Says He Does Yoga.” One of the comments implied that it was Irish Yoga: falling off the barstool.
12. Read about the break-up of the earth and moon HERE.
13. And check out THIS up-periscope umbrella with a view.
______Thirteen Thursday
October 1st, 2015 12:00 am
Shaman, not a bad profession.
October 1st, 2015 12:38 am
What if God really is telling him things? Shaman is a good nick name.
October 1st, 2015 7:43 am
9 me too – where did the time go with those boys ??
October 1st, 2015 12:29 pm
That water is terrifying. We are supposed to get 10 inches in 48 hours even without the storm! Number 5 is me right now in my life and I do not like that.
October 1st, 2015 2:24 pm
It’s hard to explain the gray areas of life to a seven year old … At that age we want everything to be black and white. Sadly too many much older people never have grown out of that stage!
I was so upset to learn that the Pope had an audience with Kim Davis. Just when I was beginning to think there was hope again (((.
ps: I will call you in five years to write my story !
October 1st, 2015 3:11 pm
Looks like your area may be in for a lot more rain this week. Stay dry, and hope you feel better! My T13
October 1st, 2015 4:33 pm
I’m having that paradox issue, too, and constantly am giving in to the wrong thing and not writing. Then I berate myself for it and the circle goes on. Hard thing to get out of.
October 1st, 2015 7:52 pm
Your last line can be seen on FaceBook or paper or just have someone else read it and then it is seen!