Loving What You Do

May 1, 2006

When I say, it has been a busy spring for me, no doubt you will say "me, too." Why is it that we are all so busy when we have at our disposal all the conveniences imaginable? Our grandmothers heated their irons on a wood stove; today, most of our clothes and linens are "permanent press". Even our mothers reserved several ours a week to answer correspondence; but today we zip off many electronic letters in a single day. Thirty years ago, planting a spring garden took hours of planning and days to plant--not to mention weeks to wait until harvest; whereas, today we buy tomato plants that are loaded with green tomatoes that will ripen in a month or so; and if that's too long to wait, there are fresh markets and farmer's markets in every community.

But despite all that she had to do, my grandmother found time to sit down every afternoon in front of her old Olivetti typewriter and pound out a few lines of a poem, or prepare her weekly column for the Bladen Journal. She didn't wait until everything else was done, she stopped her chores and took that time to write. Let's all do that. At a certain time of day, let's all stop the endless running around and take time to write--or paint, or sing, or dance, or whatever it is you love to do but never have the time for. When we do, I believe we will all be happier human beings.

I have to stop now. I'm working on my new book, and loving it.

Carolyn