Miracles and Newspapers

It is no mystery that I love to write, at least for myself. If only you knew how many blogs I REALLY maintain, you would realize that writing isn't just a friendly past time for me. When I see empty books I percolate with excitement! All of those blank pages and endless possibilities!

Despite my love for writing, I have forever hated using pencils since before I was in Kindergarten; that is, until someone introduced me to a MECHANICAL pencil. Why? Because wooden pencils get dull and then you have to STOP writing to go sharpen it. I could never get them sharp enough because they would break or splinter. And then there was the smudging. I was pretty young when I figured out that .05 mechanical pencil led didn't smudge, but .07 was a social outcast in my book.

Pens don't smudge either. Pens and I have had a love affair since I was nine. I am this uber techy person who loves pens. Who knew? I have more journals filled than I can count. Instead of a teddy bear putting me at ease, it was always the pen. The Zebra, the Parker, the Pilot G2... if I don't have a reliable one within reach I feel like a fish out of water. Bic puts the word Kugelschreiber to shame. Maybe Bic Stics were really invented for field tracheotomies and impromptu prison tattoo parlors, but those nasty little writing implements should only be used as pens in extreme emergencies.

Writing is almost never stressful for me. At the end of my conference post-mortem week, I had to submit two four-page syllabi for an upcoming national conference at which I will speak in May. I pounded them out in a couple of hours while C was at the gym. My workout fell by the wayside, but to every thing there is a season.

Today I taught a lesson on Miracles. Teaching has this enormous payoff for me. It's not a limelight kind of payoff, but rather knowing that I can make something easy for someone to understand. I feel good because I have helped someone learn something new.

If only I felt as at ease about public writing as I do about public speaking. A friend at work approached me about writing a newspaper column. It would be a side gig, but who could say no? I just need to throw together a couple of samples. We'll see how it goes.

Finally, a shameless plug for my very amazing man, my cookie monster, my man of steel, and my best friend. Thanks for being my favorite blog reader, my biggest fan, and the apple of our birdies' eyes (oh, and mine, too!) Thank you for keeping the ship afloat while I was out of sanity's reach for the past several months. Here's to seeing each other again in the evening and letting the laptop collect some dust over the weekend.