Geez, I can’t get away with nothin’ around here any more.
After a nice long hike on a snowy trail, I came home in a worse mood than when I started out. That’s the way it’s been around here lately. (Some would say for decades, but pay them no mind.) Not only do I spend too much time following the shafting of America, but I’m also the mother of all late bloomers. If I were actually engaged on my own exciting new projects, I wouldn’t have time to get upset, so these are obviously related.
When my wife came home from her studio, she wasn’t here five minutes before she planted herself in the middle of the room and said:
“Now I just want to ask you one thing: would you please not be so CRUSTY?!”
“Crusty” is her word for a state I call “normal enough to mostly function, but sorely bothered…” My usual demeanor, in other words. My response was to promise to talk about it over drinks. That usually works. This time, though, she had a glass of wine in her hand before I could think of an excuse, and I was trapped.
“It’s the same old stuff. I’ve been ranting about politics on the Internet, and I’m worried. If I had books to sell, that might not be a good idea. People might like my writing — IF I had the goddamn stuff out there — but be turned off by the politics and not buy anything.”
“That doesn’t sound very courageous,” she said.
Damn!
Somewhat off-balance from the unanticipated acceptance, I went on: “I need to be working on my own stuff. I have a book I want to write, but I’m afraid… It’ll attract a lot of attention, and I’ll make money. But it might make trouble for me.”
She asked me what it was about. I told her. For a full five seconds she sat there, poker-faced. “See,” I muttered, expecting to be shot down like a mangy varmint.
“WRITE IT!” she said.
Damn again! How am I ever going to die a miserable, lonely death after a wretched, unfulfilled life with support like that?!?
It’s a wonder I can put my pants on in the morning, I swear.
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
How wonderful John and how lucky for us another book will come to life from you. I can hardly wait.
Good on your wife !
Patsy
Gotcha! Good on you Kathy!… Keep us posted John, maybe some of your new courage will rub off on your faithful fellow travelers, especially this one. Love the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge pic.
John
Considering that what you write is interesting, is worth reading and does have meaning, maybe you should go through with it. Only one way to find out.
Damn her for being brave, for being right and for loving your sorry ass enough to kick it when necessary. So, when do you start?
Hey John,
Been a while.
Kathy still sticks wid ya? Holy frig.
Which camera do you use these days (sorry I haven’t been following for a while)?
It is astonishing, isn’t it? I cost us our home, her job, our old friends, soft air in the springtime, and a helluva lot more that I still haven’t made up for, and she told me this morning that she was happy and didn’t need any Xmas presents. That the only thing she wanted for Christmas was me…
I think I’ll just blubber for a while now.
(Camera is a Pentax *istDS, a DSLR…)
Don’t worry about it–your politics are as likely to help as harm. Now me, I’m a student (& soon a consultant) in a more conservative industry. I have to be careful.
Be VERY careful, in that case. Everything gets traced. I’m outside the system, I can rant.
But thanks for the support!
Back atcha.
Oh, I’m not that secretive–too much trouble, and if my clients want to snoop my personal life & don’t like what they find I’ll deal. But my political writings don’t pop up first in Google under my professional name. It also allow my non-political friends & my friends who don’t share my views to avoid them.
& a fair (late) Yule, Merry Christmas, Ashura, what-have-you!