It's the journey, not the destination...!
I bought the first pair of spike heels before I ever bought the cordless drill. The divorce came somewhere between those two things, and the chain saw was definitely something I had to work my way up to. Getting on the back of the Harley was a milestone that fell somewhere between the cordless drill and the chainsaw, but definitely AFTER I started gardening.
I think I'm finally starting to roll with this "work in progress" status. It sure beats a life with no surprises!
On paper, you could say that I've come full circle. Fresh out of college the first time, I joyfully entered the newspaper business, writing for a little more than a year as a staff reporter for the Milwaukee Journal. Marriage, motherhood and magazine writing followed shortly after, and I kept my hand in the business of pushing words around until they made feature articles while I changed diapers, drove to tennis and soccer and piano lessons, and baked cookies and cupcakes for just about every occasion. I was lucky enough to find a niche in the realm of public television magazines, and for seven years got to interview PBS stars by phone around the globe about their latest roles or series while I kept the trains running on time and the dinners warm for three kids, a husband, a dog and two elderly horses. When my fourth child came along, I finally put the writing to the side, figuring that I'd have enough on my plate to keep me busy. Plus, I reasoned, I'd I already interviewed just about everybody on PBS that I'd set my cap for.
Two years later, I picked up a pen and a pad of paper again, and started to write. I hadn't known I'd missed it so much until the words started to flow out of my imagination and on to the pages! But just as I was really feeling the groove, I took a hard fall off a tall horse going over a fence, and wound up in a body cast for three months with a broken back. (Trust me, nobody was more surprised than me at the diagnosis!) That was one of those things that can make you look back at the previous forks in the road and wonder "what if?" And so shortly after I got cut out of the cast, I took the law school entrance exams, got a law degree three and a half years after I started, and became a prosecuting attorney for the State of Wisconsin. I absolutely love the work I do and the folks that I work with. I didn't think I'd look back again but...friends who thought my emails and Christmas newsletters were a hoot nudged/pushed/dragged me into starting a blog, which we collaboratively named "Running with Stilettos: Living a Balanced Life in Dangerous Shoes."
I think I'm finally starting to roll with this "work in progress" status. It sure beats a life with no surprises!
On paper, you could say that I've come full circle. Fresh out of college the first time, I joyfully entered the newspaper business, writing for a little more than a year as a staff reporter for the Milwaukee Journal. Marriage, motherhood and magazine writing followed shortly after, and I kept my hand in the business of pushing words around until they made feature articles while I changed diapers, drove to tennis and soccer and piano lessons, and baked cookies and cupcakes for just about every occasion. I was lucky enough to find a niche in the realm of public television magazines, and for seven years got to interview PBS stars by phone around the globe about their latest roles or series while I kept the trains running on time and the dinners warm for three kids, a husband, a dog and two elderly horses. When my fourth child came along, I finally put the writing to the side, figuring that I'd have enough on my plate to keep me busy. Plus, I reasoned, I'd I already interviewed just about everybody on PBS that I'd set my cap for.
Two years later, I picked up a pen and a pad of paper again, and started to write. I hadn't known I'd missed it so much until the words started to flow out of my imagination and on to the pages! But just as I was really feeling the groove, I took a hard fall off a tall horse going over a fence, and wound up in a body cast for three months with a broken back. (Trust me, nobody was more surprised than me at the diagnosis!) That was one of those things that can make you look back at the previous forks in the road and wonder "what if?" And so shortly after I got cut out of the cast, I took the law school entrance exams, got a law degree three and a half years after I started, and became a prosecuting attorney for the State of Wisconsin. I absolutely love the work I do and the folks that I work with. I didn't think I'd look back again but...friends who thought my emails and Christmas newsletters were a hoot nudged/pushed/dragged me into starting a blog, which we collaboratively named "Running with Stilettos: Living a Balanced Life in Dangerous Shoes."
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The blog turned into one book, then another, and then yet another. Who knew? I joke that my life's an open book...or three. Those essays run the gamut from growing up in Chicago and moving to an abandoned farm with my family as a teenager; to finally discovering the joy and empowerment of spike heels at an age somewhere north of forty; to keeping a vigil at my father's deathbed; to the healing power of chocolate chip cookies and the joy to be found in a starlit night in the country, listening to the sounds of crickets and frogs and coyotes. Somewhere along the line I also discovered the joy of digital photography and the magical ability to fix the crooked horizons in my vacation photos with my computer. My kids are still surprised that I can send a text message. I think that part of the draw for me now that photography has "gone digital" is that it's such a sudden, instant way to communicate. Unlike the process of wordcraft that lends itself to such second-guessing and revising, with a digital camera you know in an instant if you've got the shot you wanted, and the person looking at your photo in a book or at a gallery knows in an instant whether they want to keep looking at it...or keep walking.
I've given up ever trying to predict what's going to happen next...but I DO have some projects in the works. A couple of YA novels, a series of children's books set in a circus museum, and...a couple of suspense novels as well. If I've learned anything along the way, it's to roll with the punches, look for the positives, and know that hearts expand to fill with more love. And if you have something good to say to someone, say it sooner rather than later. Because you never know what shores that encouragement will take someone to. I'm still a "work in progress" on that point myself. |