A Small Thought or Two

I don’t think I will ever get this right. I read John Cowart’s blog and know I will never be able to do that.

So I wrote for a living for almost 25 years. That doesn’t mean I’m a writer. It just means I knew how to keep the editors from finding out!

I thought of myself more as a messenger than a writer. If someone gave me something to say, I could do that. I could even do that fairly well. I could communicate their thoughts so others could understand them.

For example, and I am very proud of this, I interviewed a social science type person one time about a program he headed that was supposed to do good to a certain group of people. He spoke jargon – that is he used the vocabulary he and others of his trade used to speak to each other. And it was totally incomprehensible to me.

So I asked him to give me an example. And a little way into the example, I asked him to put what he was saying into simpler words. And so on and so on for about two hours.

In the end I wrote an article and it was published. The next day, he called me. I waited for him to tell me what I had gotten wrong. Instead he thanked me for clarifying his message so the non-professional could understand it. I was amazed and grateful.

Occasionally I have a thought or two of my own. Often these are about an inch long, or maybe two and a half inches long. But they don’t go far or say much.

While I was writing a weekly column, I relied HEAVILY on the Lord to give me something to write about. AND HE DID! That was how I knew I was to write a column.

The day came when He no longer did. I struggled on for a while, meeting deadlines. And then, fortunately, retired.

Since then my writing has been short and, well, I don’t know. Unsatisfactory to me.

I have reused a few of the earlier columns. I have 15 years worth to draw upon. But it doesn’t seem right somehow. They had their 15 minutes of exposure.

Today, I have a little thought to share, so I will. On Wednesday, after her second session of in this round of chemo, Mary, my daughter, was able to make the bed and prepare the coffee pot. She was able to say a few words together without gasping for breath or coughing. These are things she had not been able to do for several weeks.

This is actually her third round of chemo, the first one was back in the fall of 2005. Three rounds of radiation and one brain surgery have come in between.

But I’m happy today with today’s progress. And I don’t mind her bristly hair. I think she’s beautiful almost bald.