Just Your Ordinary Extraordinary Life

Sometimes life is so extraordinary that no amount of theory can make it do what you want.


These last weeks of my life have been extraordinary. Illness and hospitals, rain storms and floods, lack of sleep and absence from work---well, from looking for work. We've all had times like this, powering through a tunnel with all our might, doing what's needed because we must, and emerging fragile and spent when the task is done.


I wish I could say that I stayed strong, creative, and joyful throughout, but I didn't. Powering through was all I could do. Now that I'm resting my aching heart and limbs, I feel rather like this little bird: delicate, tentative, and solitary.


As I began putting my life and home back together, I surprised myself two days ago by rummaging around in the weaving shed, pulling out projects that need finishing. I found strips of a brown, black, and white woven rag rug that need to be joined, and a fuchsia rag runner in a similar state.


The work was done long ago and I remember doing it. Holding these pieces of my past in my hands was a wonderful comfort and finishing them will be a delicious domestic act, like building a nest. After weeks away from myself, it's a way of saying, "This is who I am," and then finding out, one piece at a time, what that means. 


Christmas is less than two weeks away. Short on cash this year and a terribly wasteful spender in the past, I'm enjoying learning a new way of life. I bought wrapping paper and ribbon for pennies in my village, and I'm giving gifts made from what I already have here at home. I suspect I'm not the only one celebrating a homespun Christmas this year. It makes me smile. This is how it should be.


This post, and my other blog Foghorn , mark my first writing efforts in weeks. Encouraged, I think tomorrow I'll work on my entry for the Editor Unleashed essay competition, "Why I Write." First prize is $500, and the top fifty entries will be published in a collection. Not bad as contests go! Editor Unleashed is an interesting site with an active forum. If you're a writer, it's worth a visit.


Please take care and enjoy your own Christmas preparations. Now that I'm back, I'll be here, building my nest.


Chirp.