What's Your Story?
Well, what’s your story going to be this year? Are you writing one or reading one? Or maybe just looking at the cover and wishing you had the time to read? I’ve come across many little clues in the last month that are pointing me in the now direction. What do I mean? Life is now, not when I get my life ‘together’. There is joy possible in every moment. What are you waiting for? Next year?! It’s about the choices we make every day, every morning, every moment. What do I Accept? Do? Want? Feel? They’re my choices, and in front of me all the time.
So that story? You may not be able to control all the characters, only yourself. Or the circumstances or parts of the plot, but you can write a tragedy, a comedy, a drama ... however you choose to use the pieces and set the tone. A woman on the train this morning had some sort of mishap as the doors closed, and the shrieks could be heard the length of the train. More hollering and words, the doors opened again briefly, and she was off on her way. The lady next to me looked up, grinned, and repeated the word ‘drama’ several times as she shook her head. You want a drama? You can write it that way if you want. I have several friends who thrive on it, and a bit of a ‘closet’ tendency to it myself.
By now you're wondering where Carolinda and the Captain come into the picture. They're two homeless people that have staked out streetcorners right near me, a block apart. The Captain, as my husband named him before knowing he'd been a sailor, is usually one or two sheets to the wind, sitting on a crate just outside the bank. He carries a guitar with him, and sometimes strums it, but more often gets up to hold the door for you. Sometimes he asks for change, but usually just greets passersby and goes back to perching on his crate. He's almost always cheerful, and despite gettings stories from him about raw deals and poor plot twists in his life, he still sends you off with a smile.
Carolinda waits a block down, huddled against the wall with her cup. Her look is angry and defensive, and if you don't give her money, or enough money, she often yells at you. The last time I gave her the change I could dig out of my pocket, she shouted "I don't need *that*, I need a *meal*, honey." I only know that she has no family left in the world, sleeps on a park bench sometimes, and dances with a senior citizen group. Life has obviously been hard for her, and she's angry about her circumstances. Neither of these folks have it easy, nor can they control much about the plot at this point. They do still have control over their attitudes, and have obviously chosen very different ones. It makes me look at mine, and realize that no matter what, I still can choose how to play out my story, every day of my life.
For the record, my story for 2005 included many things I planned for and hoped for, and many twists that I didn’t expect. Some I incorporated with grace and humor and enjoyment, others I wrestled to the ground and tried to put into the footnotes. I got in visits with beloved friends and family, got out of debt, learned to let myself relax a *little* more, and made it through the first trimester of a second child, due in July of this year! All in all, I crossed off items 4 through 10 on my list from a year ago, and enjoyed every one. Here’s to writing your story in 2006, and making it one you’ll be proud of.