Admitting the Downs and Ups

It’s great having hubby back home. He’s been working out-of-province for almost a year. Sure, there were regular visits but a few days at a time were never enough. I must admit that the first couple of weeks he was away were pretty fantastic. Eat when and what I want. Vacuum late at night – or not at all. Stay in pj’s all day and write to my heart’s content without thinking of what to thaw for dinner, or wondering about fresh veggies in the crisper.

Speaking of the fridge, it quit working. That was a major drag. Although a lot of the meat hadn’t thawed, some of the freezer contents had to be tossed – others had to be cooked and re-frozen. Actually, that part of it worked out quite well. Steaks cubed and simmered in beef broth and onions, ground meat browned and seasoned. Quick and delicious meals at the ready. Fortunately, I had another fridge with freezer downstairs or a bad situation would have been much worse. Speaking of much worse, my computer crashed that same week. It was meant to be. My all-time answer for everything that turns to #@@%.

My dead fridge was an inconvenience. My computer … well, it was depressing. I visited my email account and facebook on my cell phone with little enthusiasm. Though a lot of my files are on flash sticks and I have the means to retrieve lost stories from email submissions or attachments to beta readers, I’ve yet to restore them. I’ll do it later. To do it now would be like accepting a new friend before getting over the loss of the old friend. But I’ll do it. To some, it won't seem like such a big deal. Just get another computer. At the time, it seemed like the culmination of a lot of things gone wrong. Stress!

In the meantime, a week or so following my computer crash, a writer buddy brought me to a screeching halt. Do you miss writing, she wanted to know. I was rocked with the realization that in my frustration and panic, my bubbly enthusiasm for writing had vanished with the hard drive! Reading facebook updates by other writers now filled me with envy and remorse. Thrilled to have Marv back home, and being unable to deal with setting up a new computer or admitting to the loss of 42,000 words of revision, my brain had suffered creative paralysis.

But then while I was at the gym this morning, doing a soft workout while nursing a bum arm – which I’m convinced is a flare-up of tendinitis from too much ‘writing’ – I thought about my blogs. There was a time when I loved writing blogs and posted faithfully every week. Then I read somewhere – on someone else’s blog – never write about you on a blog. Save that for your diary – no one wants to hear it. I was stymied. 

That’s when my magazine column came to mind. It seems that when I write about my own experiences, readers relate and respond enthusiastically. It’s why I’m sharing my misadventures with you. Well, I’m not expecting an enthusiastic response but maybe someone out there can relate. Maybe it will speed my recovery. Hah! Good choice of words. I also purchased an external hard drive for saving EVERYTHING EVERYDAY. 

I’d better get busy re-writing those 42,000 words that disappeared in the flash of a burnt-out hard drive. I have a feeling they’ll be even better. You see, everything does happen for a reason. J

Keep healthy, stay happy, and hug often.