Against the Wind

Just do it. The key to writing is to sit in the chair and do the work. Just do the work.

Linda sent a “where are you?” message, via facebook. And I’ve been running some pretty busy circles. As for writing, I really don’t have anything that I need to tell anyone. Stephen King has a great little book on writing, and says (paraphrasing here) writers are always writing for an audience. In his case it’s his wife. The person I wrote for, the one I wanted to tell something is gone. So there is some grief, some sense of emptiness, but also there is a need to construct a new reader in chief, at least in my imagination. I’m having trouble overcoming lack.

Speaking of Linda, some postive thoughts, prayers and concerns for her as she continues to battle the diabetes. The big D is relentless, and she’s been in his company for 21 years or so. Lots of pain and attempts to redo the medical regime… not fun in Colorado.

Friday I played in a bridge game in MS. I’d never played in the club there since Katrina. The old clubhouse was washed away with the tide. It’s billed as a friendly game. But one couple, folks I’ve been acquainted with for a long time, were in a poison dart battle. Mostly the wife was slinging verbal assaults at the husband. Nothing subdued about it. The target of her venom just calmly got up and walked away after the round. My partner laughed the rest of the round, that no matter what he did, I never did call him an asshole! It seems these folks play in Slidell in the Tuesday game that I shun. The local word is that she is going senile, and it exhibits as a very hateful tongue. But life is too short. Even if you’ve been married 50+ or 60+ years, I don’t think I’d sit still for that. They have plenty of resources. He could hire a nurse and see if he couldn’t find a parnter to play bridge with that wouldn’t make everyone at the table squirm. Do long marriages often end thus? With the partners almost in a full out war? It’s very sad to witness.

The House of Reps is supposed to vote on their version of goverment health care. I know a couple of my children, maybe all three, think this is just the ticket. I’m still hoping against hope there is some way to derail this train, and make some needed reforms. Medicine costs a great deal, some of it needless. Insurance options need to be opened, and the layers of insulation between the patient and the bill need to be removed. Tort reform is required. State mandates for coverages like psychiatry need to be eliminated, and companies need to be able to sell insurance across state lines. Doctors could give deep discounts for direct payment by the patient. Lots of changes are needed. This bureaucracy is not what I want to live with.

Link to a bigger version

But I feel something like the sense of doom I felt on election night a year ago. Nuff said.

Proverbs 10:10

He who winks with the eye causes trouble,
But a prating fool will fall.

That prating fool shows up again.. from Proverbs 10:8. Isn’t the internet grand? We prating fools can broadcast our foolishness. If’n you hang around long enough, you may witness the fall of this prating fool.

Much less foolish, daughter and son in law, in New York harbor. Life is wonderful when you’re young and the world is yours for the taking. On the other hand, I’m not terribly unhappy where I am. Lonely, yes. But there’s no one calling me “asshole” for every mistake I make!

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 11:09 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.