November 29, 2004

• Ever waited patiently for a sun to set over the waters?

  It’s the strangest thing.  You wait and wait, and it seems to take so long before the bottommost part of the brilliant fireball actually touches the ocean edge.  But then, for some reason, once it’s hit the ocean, forget blinking lest you miss seeing the ocean swallow the sun.  The sun always seems to disappear before I even realize what’s happening.

  Sometimes when the unthinkable is realized, I feel like the same thing has happened.  I wait and wait; it takes so long, but when it finally comes, it happens so fast, I don’t even see it coming.

  The day that I won second place for a poem that I had written in second grade was the day that “writing” began to define who I am.  I define writing, but writing also defines me.  It’s always been a passion.  But also always a side-thing.

  When I was growing up, my dad would often try to dissuade me from becoming a writer.  I thought it was odd that he would make those crushing remarks because I had never even told him that I loved writing.  I was pretty quiet and uncommunicative as a kid.  How did my dad ever know that I wanted to be a writer?  I don’t know how he knew, but what I did know was becoming a writer as a profession was out of the question.  How many people actually “make it” anyway?  And while I think I have always planned on eventually writing one day – when I have something real to say – I have pretty much put that particular dream on the backburner.

  So on Saturday I had the strangest conversation with my dad.  He actually said to me, “Since you’re so good at writing, maybe you should use that.”  He was meaning for me to find a job using it.  What?  I was so shocked by his comment, I couldn’t even believe my ears.  Something amazing must be happening if my dad is encouraging me to write. It was like the sun had set over the waters and I had missed all the warning signs preceding it’s disappearance.  So sudden. 

  Strange how it seems that so many things in life always seem to come full circle. Kinda exciting!!

  • 3:44 am
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