When you live in the middle of the country and spend your day writing in solitude, you can pretty much plan your day … well, week and month. The operative word is solitude. I don’t have many surprise visitors. And let me tell you, if those visitors involve nature’s fauna in my cabin, I want nothing to do with them.
When I woke up this morning, I expected to see UPS at my door and no one else. I have plenty of work in front of me and staying focused is a good thing.
I got up earlier than intended. We’ll blame Earl for this one. If my toe twitches under the blanket and he thinks I might possibly be awake, he is ready and rarin’ to go. The next thing I know, a cute little face is sniffing at my nose and if I don’t respond quickly enough, he climbs on top of my body to let me know he’s serious. It’s easier to just get up at that point because no matter what, he’s not going away. To make things worse, he then climbs all over his sister, Grey, and the two of them are soon wrestling with each other.
So … I got up early. Turned on a little rugby (have I mentioned how much I am learning to love this game?) and settled in to do some editing that’s due. I worked and worked in the quiet of the day. The cats were on the porch, I became caffeinated and the day should / would / could look like any other glorious day in my life.
UPS arrived with an order for me and I didn’t think much about it. I heard him drive away and turned back to my work. By now, I was probably watching beach volleyball. All of a sudden I heard a knock on the front door. Say what? Now that’s surprising. I’m not really set up for guests here. You know … I try to keep things as clean and neat as possible, but seriously, folks, I live by myself. I don’t encourage visitors (remember the operative word?) and I’m busy all of the time. Vacuuming happens rarely and fabric and finished products are taking over the place.
I had no idea who might be knocking at my front door, but I scurried out and saw an aunt and uncle on the other side of the screen. Well, hello there! My brain worked really quickly trying to devise a plan that wouldn’t look like I was being rude and not inviting them all the way inside, yet welcoming at the same time. We sat on the porch. Thank goodness it was fairly clean. They were camping across the road, saw my Jeep, and stopped in. What a fun, surprising interlude to my afternoon.
The other fun surprise encounter today was with a young woman who has written a book and is looking for the next steps. There is nothing more fun than talking to someone who shares your passion. I absolutely love encouraging others to grab their creativity and do something with it.
The world needs what you have to offer. Don’t let anyone tell you anything different. You were made to be part of the world and whatever it is you do … it is important and necessary.
As we emailed back and forth, her excitement increased and oh my goodness, so did mine! I began to see the fun of writing and publishing through the eyes of someone who is new to it. Apparently I’ve gotten jaded, because that conversation did something wonderful for me.
I wish that I could better describe how important it is that you identify your passions, your creativity and your talents and then, that you find a way to celebrate and use those. Not only for yourself, but for the rest of the world. The biggest problem I see is that we tend to narrowly define creativity. I think of the woman who waved through her window at school buses filled with kids. She didn’t realize what a creative outreach that was and how it impacted those young people. There is no limit to how many different types of creativity there are in the world. Hah. I would tell you that my father was a very creative ‘packer of stuff.’ That man could find the smallest nooks and crannies and then organize them to hold incredible amounts of stuff. That was creative. You might not be a painter or sculptor, a writer or knitter. Don’t define yourself based on what you think should be creative. Make up your own definition.
And when it is time for another Creativity Friday on the Bellingwood Facebook page, I’d love to see what you’ve come up with.
Now that daylight is waning, I don’t expect any more surprises, but if they arrive, I’ll do my best to be ready.
What or who has surprised you this summer?
