Writing

I wrote this and it seems to ramble but please stick with me.

I’m sitting outside at “Squeak”, a soda shop by our branch library. It is a beautiful day, not too hot, not too cool. It’s 11:30, lunch time and people are going into “Salsa Brava” for lunch, the smells are delicious.

My husband is at work, yeah God, after over a year of unemployment. My daughter and son-in-law were in for a brief visit on their way to a much needed month long vacation in Australia. They have just sold their business and have wonderful, but scary choices in front of them. We are dog sitting while they are on their trip. Otis is a 150 pound black Great Dane. He is a sweetie and he is getting along great with our golden retriever, Sammy.
Everything seems to be right with the world.
But…

I am having feelings of guilt as I sit here. I should be home so I can finish washing sheets and making beds, and vacuuming the double amount of dog hair accumulating along the walls and in the corners. There must be something that can be made with dog-hair. It seems such a waste, the dogs produce it, drop it as a gift to us and we sweep it up and throw it away. I sure am glad God doesn’t do that with the gifts I bring to him.

Sitting here I am doing what I love, writing. I need to have more respect for my writing, treating it as my job, setting work hours and sticking to them. Why does that seem so hard to do when I am at home? No one is there, except the dogs, so I have a quiet atmosphere and comfy furniture. Maybe it’s the laundry, cleaning, food prep, cleaning up the dog hair, etc, that is always calling to me. If I am at home shouldn’t I be taking care of these things?

I find it easier to work at locations other than my home. The rub is when I sneak off to a coffee shop to write I feel guilty. Like, why do I need to go somewhere else to write, I have a nice office at home. Ugh!

When I am writing I feel so good I don’t want to leave that spot. I am at peace in part of me and at war in another part.

Any other writers struggle with this? I am open for input, help please.

Well it is time to leave this spot, go to the grocery store, go home and make those beds, and vacuum floors. Then a little later it is off to get gas, make a couple of stops before picking up my granddaughter from day care, take her to her home until her mom or dad get home from work. When I get home it will be around 6pm, time to fix dinner and get ready for Tuesday, another full day planned, leaving the house at 6am and getting home around 6pm. Sigh.

Road Trip Part II

Yesterday I posted about the road trip I am on. I wrote about number one of the two reasons Marietta and I took this trip. Today is about the second reason.

Marietta and I both have children living in Kansas. Marietta’s son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter live in Paola, Kansas. My daughter and son-in-law live in Kansas City.

Our first stop was Paola to Kimberly and Tim’s recently opened coffee shop “The Country Bean.” What a great looking coffee shop. Tim built all the counters, and the furniture. He did such a great job on the furniture that people asked him to build furniture for them so he started a business from it, “The Country Bean Woodworking Co.” The coffee products and food that are served are top notch. The macaroni and cheese is to write home about. Their daughter Ella, who is less than three months old is part of the business, she goes to work daily with her mom and dad. Customers come in looking for her and even give them money for diapers for Ella. Their shop is located close to the high school and the students come in regularly and are very welcomed. The shop holds Wii tournaments on Friday nights to give the young people a place to go. For $5.00 they are entered into the tournament and they receive a small drink. The winner receives half the money taken in. They really have a heart for young people.

The next day my daughter Coleen and son-in-law Erik drove to Paola and all of us went out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. We had a great meal and the young folks had a good time sharing business stories. My son-in-law and daughter also own their own successful business. We were having such a nice time together that we didn’t notice that we were the last people there and they were waiting for us to leave so that they could close. I said goodbye to Marietta as she returned to her son’s home and I headed to Kansas City to spend a few days with Coleen and Erik, their three cats and one very large dog, Otis, a black Great Dane.

My daughter gave me a wonderful Mother’s Day gift. We both had facials. Ah, that’s the life. After lunch at Panera Bread we went to their business, “Need More Discs” in Shawnee. I purchased five movies from their vast inventory of DVD’s and looked at the music CD’s but didn’t find any that I wanted this time. If my husband had been with me I know he would have found some, we always go home with a stack to add to our growing collection. I have never gone into their store and not purchased something, it is a good thing I don’t live closer.

My son-in-law is cooking stir-fry for dinner on Saturday and Sunday I am being taken out for Mother’s Day brunch. It has been a great visit with them. They always show me so much love and we have a special time together.

This has been a wonderful trip and Marietta and I talked today about planning another one. We may take a cross country train trip; I have never done that before.

Marietta will be driving back to Illinois on Monday or Tuesday. I catch a plane back to Colorado on Sunday evening from Kansas City. I am sure my husband will be glad to have me back and I will be delighted to see him.

Image: Ryan Kramer